When bad turns to Ragnarök
by Hippony Ramen
Summary: OC messes up main plot line just FYI XD. Ellie and Joel have to face huge dilemmas and more adventures after they meet a mysterious, young girl. Thanks to xxmollymooxx for inspiring my story and thanks so much to BlackBird14 for assisting in the writing of these chapters! Dunno what to rate so T's good enough XD (Also a remake of 'Wild Adventure' because ye)
1. 1-An unexpected fate

The Last of us: An unexpected fate

The moment Joel was impaled, Ellie rushed down to his side.  
"Move," he murmured as he pushed her aside and rose his tightly gripped revolver. He shot rapidly with a tiring arm at the hunters coming in small numbers. With blood smeared all around them, Ellie heaved him off the iron rod and, in agony, he slowly and painfully dragged himself through the doorways and towards Callas. More hunters seemed like they appeared from nowhere and started to open fire. Joel and Ellie hid behind masses of cabinets and drawers as they attempted to save them selves. Blood from Joel's torso was spattered everywhere as he tried his hardest to keep quiet. Eventually, Ellie put a shot in the first hunter's head and he came to the floor with a crash, unfortunately attracting the attention of more hunters as they cautiously made their way towards the room Ellie and Joel were stuck in.

Joel accidentally gave away his position by moaning in pain which drove the second, forth and fifth hunters towards him. He suddenly bagged them each in the stomach as he tumbled over and his sight went dimmer.  
"JOEL!" Ellie screamed as she hurtled towards him. "We've got to get through this Joel, your the last person I have!" She shook him once, and then twice. His eyes were a second from closing when he heard the screaming of Ellie, "Stay the f*** away!" The loud shots from the guns rang in his head as he felt the life inside him fade.

"C'mon! Don't die on me now Joel!" Ellie yelled as she ran over and heaved him up off the ground.  
"Ellie.." His voice was hoarse and croaky, "Callus...now" he mumbled under his voice as blood gushed out from his wound making it extremely difficult for him to walk. Ellie put his arms around her and started to haul him closer to Callus.

"Oh sh**!" A hunter cried as they drew closer to the horse. Callus whinnied with fear as Ellie fearfully shot the hunter and he fell to the ground with a crash. Ellie helped Joel onto the horse then heaved herself on as well. "Ride..Callus.." Joel mumbled under his dying voice as the horse began to gallop forward to an unknown destination.  
They came to a sudden stop when a crowd of infected came running down the hills towards them.  
"CALLUS! GO!" Ellie screamed as the runners and clickers hurtled towards them. As Callus galloped on, Ellie sat backwards and pulled out her 9mm revolver. Her shots came to a halt when she realised that she had wasted all her ammo on the hunters. "Damn hunters took it all out of me.." She mumbled as the infected grew closer and closer.  
About 10 minutes passed until they came to a stop in front of a newly built cabin. "Okay, I think we lost 'em!" She said as Joel slowly nodded to agree.  
"Hrng!" He groaned in agony, "Search the house, Ellie.. See what supplies you can find." He murmured as she sat there on the back of the horse looking at the ground.

"Joel! There is no fu****g way I am leaving you alone!" She whisper-shouted. Joel looked meaningfully at her and she reluctantly agreed.  
"Be careful in there.." He croaked as she carelessly walked into the cabin.

Although the front door was clearly unlocked, Ellie decided to go through the back window that had been left open. She quietly scrambled through the window and silently made her way through towards the cupboards. Crouched on her haunches, she searched each and every single drawer, cupboard and cabinet. Still searching, Ellie's hopes of finding anything dropped down to next to none until she searched the bathroom cabinet... Paracetamol, bandages.. Everything she seemed to need to patch up Joel's torso. It seemed her luck had run out when the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs grew louder.  
"Who are you and why are you in my fu****g house!?" A strong western voice spoke as a dark figure stormed down the stairs with a semi-automatic pistol in hand.

Ellie felt that she needed to go but she had frozen in terror just from the look of this girls eyes. Ellie's mind began to fill with all sorts of thoughts as she stared into the beautiful eyes of the girl. She looked to be about 15, however, her voice seemed far too old for her looks. Angry and frustrated, she snapped another clip into her gun. She held it high and aimed at Ellie's head.

"NO WAIT!" She heard her voice cry out in terror. She lowered the gun slightly and suddenly stood silent and still. Her eyes focused on Ellie's and she hesitated before slowly walking closer to her, gun still half-raised. Ellie, still frozen, gazed deeply into her sparkling, electric blue and maroon purple eyes. She dropped the gun and held out hier hand. At this point, Ellie was almost flat on the ground. ' _Who the hell is this kid?_ ' She thought as she took her hand and she helped her on to her feet. "Wh-who..." She struggled to get her words out as she attempted to speak to the girl.

"Hi.." Her words came out before Ellie's and she slowly put her hand up and waved. Both she and Ellie were stood frozen, almost wide eyed yet only Ellie was shocked with the ways she was feeling. The feeling Ellie suddenly had was like butterflies in her stomach because she was not only crushing on a compete stranger but also she felt that Joel was all alone out there on the horse with god knows what out there with him.

"Joel..." She mumbled as she remembered how the infected were chasing them everywhere. Her mind was a jumble.

"Uh... Hi! My name's Cassius... A-Are you alright?" She asked confused after a long awkward silence. "Um, you've been still for quite a while now.." Ellie almost completely forgot about Joel and started to slowly make her way towards Cassius. She hugged her and thanked her for not shooting her. "Uh, h-hey there.. Are you okay!?" She nodded and broke away.  
"When I f-first saw you," Ellie started stuttering, "I thought you where a ruthless killer... Now I see you u-up close... I think... uh... No, never mind..." Ellie was stuttering and tripping over her own tongue.

Cass was confused as Ellie tried to speak; they heard a far away gunshot and she stumbled backwards, tripping over her gun. Falling on her back, Cass slammed onto the floor and groaned in sudden pain. Ellie felt a lurch go through her stomach as she thought the gunshot was not that far from where they were. She hesitated before running over to Cassius and gently grabbing her arm to help her up.  
"No don't! Don't touch me!" Her temper had snapped and all rationality was gone,s he didn't know this girl so why should she trust her? She was feeling more and more anger build up in her body before reaching behind her and briskly seizing the pistol, loading it and holding it up directly in front of Ellie's eyes. At the barrel of the gun, Ellie felt her blood pump faster and faster until there came a huge bang. She saw the other girl had shot the heavy light at the top of the room. The cables hung riskily as it swung back and forth. Ellie was paralysed with fear and couldn't move her body when the light fell. She darted out of the way just in the nick of time. She stumbled around until she remembered about Joel.

As time passed by, the nature filled wilderness seemed to dim more and more and began to look grey and fuzzy to Joel. He could feel it inside him, his life fading away right in front of his eyes. Ellie heard a loud thud come from outside. Joel slid off the horse and Ellie rushed through the front door and to his side. "Oh, no..no..no..no! This can't be happening!" Ellie screamed as she grabbed the bandages and tightly wrapped them around him. "JOEL! C'mon stay with me on this one Joel, don't give it up! You're the last person I have, you.. Can't leave me!" She sobbed as she tightly gripped his shoulders. Joel lay on the ground, hopelessly trying to fight for life. Lost in his own lifeless body, he felt colder and colder until his breathing had slowed greatly. His thoughts ran all over and he finally gave it up, ' _Well, I didn't expect it to end this way..._ ' He felt the blood rushing all around his body and the slow beating of his heart..stop...


	2. 2-A death or not?

Ellie's heart was beating faster than ever now and she couldn't find a way to keep Joel alive. She could feel his heart stopping and starting over and over. Joel was cooking up, his heart was not functioning properly, his stomach was in agony and he himself felt as if his whole body was burning under the intense heat of the sun. The sound of gun shots repeating over and over in his head was enough to startle him and wake his tired eyes. The blur of his vision had taken sight of the mass of infected, Clickers, Runners, all of them, running towards him and Ellie. He tried his hardest to warn her but all that came out was a faint mumble and a small shake of his arm.

Ellie heard the blood-curdling 'krrr kraa!' of the clickers and the saddened screams and roars of the runners. She shot around and pulled out her 9mm forgetting she was out of ammo. She aimed and shot... ' _Click click. Sh*t that's the sound of no bullets!_ ' She threw it away as a lone runner drew closer until it slammed its huge, heavy body into Ellie. She fell down flat on her back next to Joel. She thought she felt her whole life just flash by her all at once until she finally spotted her last chance. Joel's hunting rifle lay unguarded on the ground and open to any reached out her arm until she could reach no further. Infected where piling in all over her. She was no longer capable of moving other than to fend off the barking infected snapping at her neck.

She had nearly given up until she heard a thundering boom from a shotgun. One infected, two infected, three, four, and finally.. five. The dog pile of infected was gone and Ellie scrambled to her feet. She seized the rifle and loaded it as fast as she knew how to. Cassius walked out of her cabin and lifted her gun, pointing towards the wilderness. Screams and growls, roars and blood-curdling screeches came from afar and Ellie held the rifle high on her shoulder. Both her and Cass were nervous and never faced this many infected alone before.

Suddenly, a colossal roar came from the far distance and was immediately followed by the bellows and thundering stomps of bloaters. Cassius had never seen one before in her life and was taken aback when she saw the huge bodies of the bloaters storming up from the hills.  
"Bloaters.." Ellie mumbled as Cassius stared wide eyed at them. "Fire!" Ellie yelled to her as she stood confused with her shotgun held high. "Fire, Cassius! Do you have a Molotov? Alcohol.. ANYTHING that will BURN!"

Cass scrambled about confused and terrified to find whatever she could that would at least make a fire. She pulled out a bottle of alcohol she had previously found. Ellie tore a piece off her trouser leg and stuck it inside the bottle. Both of them stood petrified waiting for the correct moment.  
"Cassius! NOW!" Ellie shouted at her and, in turn, she pulled out her lighter and flicked up a spark to ignite the rag. She held the newly made Molotov high above her head and waited patiently for Ellie's signal. She turned her head towards her and stared. She held her hand up and quickly shot it forward as a signal. Cass hesitated for a second then finally threw the Molotov. A huge crash came as the bottle smashed and the alcohol exploded. All four bloaters immediately lit up and burst into flames.

Stumbling and tripping over their own two feet, the bloaters attempted to charge towards the two teens who where loading guns and firing towards them. One fell, then two and, only three? Cassius was laughing with joy at the sight of three new, to her, infected being shot down and killed by her and Ellie. While she was 'celebrating', Ellie knew something was not right. Three bloaters had been put to rest but the forth had just seemingly keeled over. She slowly made her way towards where the boaters had once stood. Cautiously, she approached the body of the forth infected. Hesitating and rethinking her ideas, she knelt down next to the gigantic body. Without warning, the burnt monster reached out its hand and grabbed Ellie's leg. She screamed in pain and shock as the grip of the bloater got tighter and tighter. It pulled her down and started tearing at her weak and vulnerable body, crunching it's jaws through the soft skin in her ankle. Cass lifted her gun once again when she heard the ear-piercing screams coming from Ellie.

Cassey's shotgun was almost out of ammo and only had one shot left. ' _I better make this shot count..._ ' She thought to herself as she held the gun high and aimed. She made sure she was capable of _not_ shooting Ellie. The thundering sound of the gun came again as Ellie had nearly passed out. She was shaken awake by the soft touch of the red-haired girl and the sound of her soothing voice. Ellie thought she was dead when she first opened her eyes but all that had happened was that she was blinded by the light of the sun. Her eyes flickered as she caught the sight of the shining red hair and the glittery blue and purple eyes of Cassius. Both youngsters where terrified and didn't understand what to do without an adult around to protect them and help survive. Cass had been without an adult for at least a month while Ellie had gone only 3 minutes. Ellie realised that Joel's wound wasn't going to stop any time soon without a bandage of sorts. She bolted up from the ground and darted over to Joel.

"Cassius! Help me! I don't know what to do! I can't keep him alive!" Cass was in sudden shock of seeing Joel lying there right in front of her eyes... Dying...

The need to help Ellie and Joel took over her and, in turn, she knelt down and tore off the bottom of one of her trouser legs and ran over to Ellie, handed it to her and grabbed some medicine from her bag. Ellie tightly wrapped the bandage around the wound and put her ear to his chest. His heart was stopping and starting and had stopped for the longest time yet. His heart had stopped for 20 seconds and Ellie knew that if she didn't do something quick then Joel would die.

Cassius realised something was wrong with and darted over to help Ellie. She immediately started hammering with her hands on top of each other on Joel's chest attempting to bring him back. His heart seemed to be having a breakdown of sorts, non-stop stopping and starting. Joel's limp body lay still under the blazing sun. Jumping back and forth on death's door, Joel's body couldn't decide to live or die. His mind was weak and nearly gave up until he heard the cries of Ellie and the sound of a new voice trying to comfort her. Weakened by everything around him, Joel was incapable of moving or even doing anything apart from breathing. He let out the biggest breath that he could manage to let both youngsters know he was not yet dead. The breath came and immediately followed by coughing and spluttering.

Both Ellie and Cass were in sudden relief of the fact that Joel was not dead, but, without delay, were dragged back down to earth by the painful and agonising groans of Joel.  
"Ellie! You grab his legs! We'll carry him to a shelter!" Cass called out to Ellie as she hurried over and heaved up Joel's heavy upper-body. "Ellie!" She called again and Ellie's head suddenly shot around. "You can't tell me what to do, Cassius!" She yelled back over to her as she stormed over to lift Joel.  
"Well I'm so _very_ sorry, _your highness!_ But if you want your precious Joel, then you better lift!" She felt the anger running through her again and felt her secret was about to be revealed...


	3. 3-The wolf

Rage building at a faster pace than usual and the scent of blood exciting Cassius was the signal for her to leave as fast as she could. She dropped the shoulders of Joel and fell into a low squat clutching her head.  
"Cassius! What are you doing! I thought _you_ said _lift_!" Ellie yelled over to her as Cassey's head shot up in a terrible snarl. Ellie was taken aback at the sight of this. She slowly walked backwards and asked in a worried tone, "Uh.. Cassius? A-are you okay?" Cassey's head was shaking vigorously back and forth as she fought against the demon that lurked inside her...

Ellie was confused and afraid of what was going to happen now. Growling and arguing with herself, Cassius looked and sounded like she was being tortured. Snarls, growls, barks of pain... Every horrible and painful noise seemed to be coming from her at this point.

"Ellie.. Go.. G-Get away from here.." She growled in a strange manner that had never seemed to come from her before in her life. She seemed to be a lot more fond of Ellie than of anyone she had met before. She didn't want Ellie, or anyone, to see or be injured even in the slightest way by what was to come. Her instincts took the better of her and she man-handled Joel's body, lobbed him over her shoulders and ran towards her cabin for shelter. She released Joel's limp body and a huge thud arose as Joel slammed into the ground.

Cass seemed to be suddenly surprised by the attitude of her actions. She didn't get to meet Joel and was confused as to who she was. Cass could feel her body giving way to the demon and the cage being broken.  
Ellie was standing outside completely bewildered by what had just happened. She slowly started to make her way towards the cabin until she heard an immense howl and a huge crash from inside. She stopped in her tracks and saw a colossal, hellish figure of a wolf standing in the doorway. A growl came and then turned into a terrible snarl. The creature slowly approached the scared 14 year old and came to a sudden stop when both heard a loud crash from a gun. The creature's legs wobbled and then it fell flat on the ground. Stomach down and back up, the wolf attempted to stand back up in an instant but seemed to be stuck. Someone or something had shot it, and ran...

Another immense howl came from the creature and a whimper of pain. Ellie had no idea what was going on and seemed to only be capable of standing and watching helplessly. The healing process of Cassius and the creature was impeccable and the wolf was up and vigorous again in no time at all. Ellie was terrified as she watched the wolf inch forwards and stare deep into her eyes. Cassey's memory was still inside the demon's head and body and was fighting with all the will she could. A sudden sad, worried and scared look crossed its face for barely a second and it turned back to a viscous killer.

The scent of blood suddenly caught its attention and she turned back to face the cabin. Ellie's stomach lurched and the sudden realisation came upon her as her need to protect Joel swelled inside her. The wolf began to slowly lumber towards where Joel's body rested. Its dark, Stygian fur was swaying in the soft zephyr of the ending summer. The creature's feet were dragging and its tongue was lolling out of its mouth, the sensitive senses in its nose were aroused by the sweet smell of blood. Lugging its heavy body closer to the cabin, the wolf had no intention of stopping and was just about inside the cabin's front door when Ellie leapt onto the back of the beast. It made a slight wince as her body flopped onto it and, in turn, was angered more.

Excited by the smell of blood and the sight of Joel inside the cabin, the wolf's body lunged forward and sent Ellie flying into the side of the cabin. The sudden crash of Ellie's body slamming against the outside wall brought the wolf's attention to something other than the scent of Joel's blood and the sight of his dying body. Its head shot over in a dreadful snarl and a vast howl came from inside it.

It slowly began to approach Ellie's limp, hurt body before coming to a sudden stop when Cassey's mind had gained a few seconds of control. A saddened and apologetic whimper came and it slowly came closer than Ellie expected and didn't bite. A caring nuzzle from its nose surprised Ellie and rolled her over. The black snout of the wolf sniffled then licked Ellie's wounds. She lay completely still, playing dead, but was surprised by what was happening. Cassey's mind seemed to have taken control of the demon's body, but the small amount of time that she had had halted instantly.

In agony, the wolf stumbled over and snarled at itself. It finally got up and ran over to the cabin and sniffed at Joel's wounds. Opening its mouth, the wolf's lips curled back and it wrapped its teeth around Joel's leg. The sweet sensation of meat in its mouth and the warm taste of blood running down its throat excited it and it craved for more. The ripping sound of flesh in its teeth and the sweet taste of the slight metallic and warm yet delicious blood spewing from Joel's leg satisfied its long hunger. Human flesh was its favourite meal, best tasting and better yet, fresh. The feelings came rushing back to it, no more Cassius, it took control of the whole body, Cass was a thing of the past, a cage never to be closed again; a carnivorous killer was let loose, broken free.

Joel was still in agony from his torso and still unconscious until the bite reached his brain, he shot awake and screamed as Ellie attempted to pick herself off the ground. Joel didn't know how to respond other than screaming, all he knew was that it hurt and he was being bitten. He thought that it was most likely a gang of infected starting to feast on him and he was a helpless dead man. His ears heard the snarls and warnings from whatever it was and was only capable of breathing.

Ellie wanted so much to protect Joel but all she seemed to be able to do was annoy the demon. It was not going to move at any time at all until the meal was finished. Joel's groans of pain alarmed the wolf and it immediately stopped, lifted its head and looked behind it. It saw only Ellie standing with Cassey's shotgun in hand and held high. She loaded it carefully aimed as accurately as she could and hesitated for a moment. She thought about shooting the wolf and saving Joel but to her that reality was far out of reach.

She dropped the shotgun and fell to her knees. She sobbed and cried as the pain from her leg was growing and somehow disabled her hands. She looked up from her hands, tears pouring from her eyes.  
The wolf had lost control again, it backed away from Joel's body and started to shake.  
Cassius had seen it in her dreams; something of great power, a demon thought only to exist in myth was about to be unleashed and Ellie was caught smack dab in the middle of it.


	4. 4-The Wolf of Ragnarök

Cassey's mind was in shock from the feeling of the changes that were happening. Her body was hosting a completely new creature, nothing like anything that had been heard of before. Ellie stood, petrified from the sight of what was happening. The bodies of Cassius and the wolf were dragged apart and seemed to merge together into a single new, strong body. The new-born being stood up from the place it had formed and was motionless for a minute.

Cassius look herself around, gazing at her hands as Ellie couldn't believe her eyes. The figure had wolf features, the furry ears and exceptional hearing, the bizarre, razor-sharp fangs and the long, bushy tail. ' _A trick of the light..._ ' she thought until the figure walked cautiously towards her. She began to back away before she saw her arm reach out as if to ask to take Ellie's hand. She hesitated for a moment as the strong figure came closer. She backed further away until she suddenly hit the warm hard wall of the cabin.

"I-its okay.." She heard the strong western voice of Cassius with an added tone; a soft, caring yet angry and rough voice. "I'm not gonna hurt you." She spoke as she paused and thought before taking her hand and being lead over to Joel. "He won't live if we don't treat his wounds fast but it seems odds-on that he'll live.

Cassius pulled up Joel's shirt to look at the wound and pressed her hands firmly over it. Her warm skin and blood flowing outwards almost brought out the predatory side of her as her facial expression changed rapidly from the kind, caring and loving Cassius to the snarling, hungry killer side. Ellie heard the snarl and was bewildered by the sound. She rushed over to make sure nothing was going wrong and Joel was not dying but as soon as she got to his side she was immediately manhandled backwards by Cass.

Cassey's head shot round and a huge roar, then a snarl arose from the girl; immediately, without warning, a monstrous howl came. Cassius widened her jaws with frustration and wrapped her huge teeth around Joel's shoulder. Ellie let out a terrified squeal and darted to his side. She immediately began to cry as she knew nothing was able to be done for him.

Cassey's eyes gazed up with kindness at Ellie, mouth still clenched hard around Joel's shoulder. Ellie locked eyes with her and realised the person biting Joel wasn't a demon, but still Cassius.  
Her jaws unlocked from around his shoulder and she wiped the remaining blood from her mouth with a loose sleeve.  
"Hey. Shhh, c'mon. It's okay, I'm me. Joel's going to live now..." Cassey's warm voice reassured Ellie as she placed a caring hand on her shoulder as confort.

"No! Y-You bit him..." Ellie mumbled between sniffles. "How will he live? He's going to bleed out!" Ellie was getting more and more worked up no matter what Cassius tried.

Suddenly, Cassius pulled Ellie into a hug, holding one hand over her head and another around her back.  
"It's okay, Ellie. I'm different... I bit him to turn him..." Ellie's teary sniffles halted as her head shot up to look Cass in the eyes. "I'm a **Wolf of Ragnar** **ök** , my bite either kills or turns a human to a werewolf..."

She suddenly and unexpectedly morphed into the huge black wolf again. Ellie was terrified at the sight of it and thought back to the events of when it tried to eat Joel. The mind of the wolf was altered and she was no longer a ruthless killer, she protected those who she was fond of, eliminated those who were a danger and slaved for those who were higher than her. Ellie pulled out a gun and aimed at the head of the wolf. She immediately morphed back into the body of the girl and screamed "No don't shoot!"

Ellie's reactions were too slow and she had already shot. A sudden yelp came from her and she groaned. Ellie was in shock and saw what she had done. She rushed over to see if she could help her but nothing could be done. She winced and cried out in pain as Ellie searched each and every bag that she could find for something to help. She finally found rubbing alcohol and bandages that she had previously collected from the bathroom cabinet and darted over to the girl.

"No!" Cassius yelled as she shuffled away from Ellie, clutching the bullet wound in the side of her neck. "I-It's fine... I'll heal."

She groaned in agony as she finally managed to remove the bullet with her claws. Ellie stood and watched as she noticed something outstanding happen. The wound slowly closed up and the girl was fully recovered and back to full health. She slowly stood up from were she had fallen and walked over to Joel. The two girls looked him up and down, noticing his stomach was fully recovered and he lay breathing at a normal speed, the only traces of the wounds being the blood stains dotted about his body.

She rushed over to him only to be warned away by Joel.  
"Stay back Ellie! Don't touch me!" He suddenly yelled at her.  
"Joel? W-What's wrong?" She asked as she was very confused about what he was saying.  
"Something bit me while I was out.. I-I don't know what but I'm assuming infected." Joel sat with an angry expression on his face, he was petrified at the thought of him being mauled by a gang of infected.

"Joel.." Ellie started before she was cut off by Cassius.

"I... I did it.." She confessed as Joel looked up, staring into her eyes with a threatening look.

"You piece of sh*t! Who the hell are you anyway!?" Joel yelled as he leapt from his feet and instantly tackled Cass to the floor, a pool of blood left in the spot he was lying. Joel starting punching her face as hard as he could, trying his best to kill her.  
"What the hell!? You infected or something!?" Joel's anger was boiling over as Cassius realised he was unaware of her turning him.

"Jesus Christ man! Let me explain!" She called as she held her hands in front of her face to avoid the beating.

"I said," She started, pushing Joel to his back, pinning him down by the shoulder. "Let. Me. Explain!" She punched him as hard as she could between each word and she hopped off him, preparing to explain herself.

"I ain't human... My species are the Wolves of Ragnarök, we were the werewolves chosen to protect the human world. _I_ bit you in order to save your life, I turned you into a werewolf..."

Cassey's words echoed through Joel's ears and left him lying on the ground of the house in shock; until they all heard a gunshot thundering through the air...


	5. 5-A family Reunion

Cassey's words echoed through Joel's ears and left him lying on the ground of the house in shock; until they all heard a gunshot thundering through the air...

* * *

Cass fell to her knees in agony and groaned as she struggled to lift her body back up. Ellie rushed over to her as Joel pulled out a gun and searched the land for any sign of people. "Cassius!" Ellie started, "We have to get you to shelter, you'll bleed out!" She was in shock from what had just happened and was confused.  
"Calm, Ellie. It'll heal fast, don't worry." She said in the calmest tone she could, Ellie backed away and waited for further instructions. Cassius clutched her chest and struggled for breath. Her wound was showing no sign of healing and she felt queasy, weak and tired.

"Oh, Cassius…" Came a strange, yet familiar voice from behind the bushes. A dark figure was walking out from the bushes and when Cass saw his face, she stumbled back in fright.

"A-all this time, I... I thought you were dead!" Cass groaned in pain as she clutched her chest harder. After about a minute of silence, Cassey's grip finally loosened and she fell flat on her face. Ellie rushed to her again and grabbed her shoulders; she hauled her up and rested her body in her arms.

"Joel! She's cold! A-and her body is turning blue!" Joel made his way over to them still keeping his gun sighted on the stranger.

"Heh! You think you can save her!? You think she's one of yours!?" The man spoke, "You're all fools! A demon does not belong here! Even if she is my daughter!" Ellie and Joel sat shocked from hearing this, "I care not for what you think of her, she must be sent back to hell, to where she belongs!" The man raised his gun and aimed at Ellie, his focus was on her and on nothing else and when Cassius morphed to her wolf, the man payed no attention to her.

The wolf inside of her could smell blood, her own blood, and when she rushed to the man she tasted the first human blood after 'merging' with the wolf. Her fangs sunk into his skin, his blood painting her fur as the man yelled out in pain. The blood running over her tongue startled her; it tasted new, different, like it was of her own body, pulsing through her veins. She jumped backwards and snarled viciously. Cat like, she raced towards the man who was now on one knee in agony. Without warning, there was a slash and the man's arm was torn open.

Finally standing motionless, she concentrated on the smell of blood. It was a delight, like a treat to her nose. Ellie and Joel watched carefully, paying attention only to her face, and, to their surprise, the wolf seemed delighted to be killing something once again. Her eyes widened, her mouth dropped open and began to pant, pupils dilating until her eyes looked almost completely black. The monster was released again…

Only a second had passed until the next deadly strike caught the man's body, this time his shoulder. Cassius was growing weaker with every step she took, breathlessly running around trying to kill the mysterious man, and with every swipe she took, the man still protected his face and his neck.  
Cassey's body gave in to the pain and finally collapsed; her huge, black figure flopped onto the ground and sighed.

The man stood up slowly and painfully and spoke with a hoarse, crackly tone in his voice. "Finally, the poison is taking effect!" Ellie and Joel stood looking shocked by the sound of what he had just said.  
"P-poison!?" Ellie stuttered as she slowly walked towards the wolf's body. She snarled as she felt the touch of Ellie's hands on her body until she felt the soft caress from her. The snarl became a soft rumble in the back of her throat, almost as if she was purring. Ellie made her way to the wolf's head and lifted her hands off it's body. A terrible snarl arose from Cassius as she watched the hand lift towards her head; she was expecting a beating, as she had felt before from the touch of the mysterious man's hands. Ellie jumped back from shock of the alarming sound, her hand darted back to the protection of her chest. She let the noise settle down before she came back, this time she had bandages, tweezers and other medical equipment.

The wolf's eyes were almost closed and she was blinking rapidly. Ellie brought out the tweezers and rolled the wolf onto her back to inspect the wound. It was deep, very deep, and she was finding it hard to get into it with all the fur surrounding, but that was immediately fixed as Cassius could no longer stand to be in the form of a wolf. She felt as if the life was being drained out of her, she was struggling to breathe. Ellie was in with the tweezers and had a grip on the bullet but was struggling to pull it out, mainly because of the amount of flesh and bone surrounding it, not to mention the fear that she would only hurt him more. ' _A quick jolt of the hand should do it…_ ' She thought as she tightened the grip on the bullet.

"Why!?" Shouted a voice that made Ellie jump. "Why do you help her? The only thing she will do is hurt you, if not kill you! She... _It_ causes nothing but pain and suffering, death and destruction!" Ellie's head looked over to the man who stood tall and proud.

"I help her because I am still a human. And I'm not like you, I don't kill innocent people!" She yelled back at him. Her head moved back to the girl and the bullet seemed to have gotten closer to the surface. She didn't realise it but she had been pulling it out slowly and gently the whole time. She tightened her grip on the tweezers and started to pull harder. She remembered about the jolt in her hands and finally built up the courage to pull. A huge growl and then a whine arose, then a soft, pained whimper.

"The poison is in her blood!" The man yelled with laughter. He was extremely proud of what was happening until a scream came. It was the scream of a young woman…  
Another scream arose and then the growls and blood-curdling shouts and screams of infected came along with it. Both Joel and Ellie went rushing outside with loaded guns and grim looks on their faces.  
The man froze as Joel shot rapidly and lifted the young woman up from the ground. The bodies of the infected lay motionless as Joel helped the lady to walk to shelter.

"C'mon! What are you doing? There could be more!" He said to the woman as she stood, still frozen, looking at the man's face, wide eyed and extremely surprised. Joel and the lady proceeded to limp in unison as they made their way towards the cabin.  
When the lady got in and saw the body of Cassius, tears started to well up in her eyes. She let go of Joel and stumbled towards the girl. She started to cry as hard as someone possibly could and screamed in the direction of the man, "What have you done!? What have you done to my baby!?"


	6. 6-Shoot me down once

"What have you done!? What have you done to my baby!?"

* * *

The woman sat with her head in Cassey's hand as Ellie and Joel stood in shock and stared blankly at the man. He finally came around and realised that it wasn't a dream and spoke, "Your baby isn't a baby at all! She is a cursed, monstrous demon that will stop at nothing to kill all of humanity!"

Ellie acted on pure anger and ran at the man with her switch blade. Joel acted fast but clearly not fast enough when he grabbed Ellie and stopped her from going any further. He sighed with relief as he pulled her back. The sigh was cut short when he noticed the blood dripping down from the blade, to Ellie's hand, and onto the ground.  
"Ellie…" Joel started as he turned her around and looked into her eyes, "Ellie, what the hell has gotten into you?"  
Ellie was staring at her hands and watched as the blood ran onto her hands. She looked forward, wide eyed and in shock, as the man fell to his knees and flat on his face.  
Ellie looked back to Joel and spoke with a scared and terrified tone in her voice, "Oh, c'mon Joel… You know you wanted him dead as much as I did!"  
Joel paused before replying with a very serious tone, "Yes, I wanted him dead… But I wouldn't have gone through with it!" He tried to reach out for the knife to take it from Ellie but she protected it within her chest. "Ellie… Give me the knife…" Joel said quietly as Ellie shook her head and backed away slowly. "Ellie… You killed that man! We didn't know a single thing about him, whether he was friendly! We didn't even know his name!"

"Tobi…" The woman butted in, "His name was Tobi…" Both Joel's and Ellie's heads swung round to look at her.

"How do you know..?" Ellie asked with a stutter. The woman turned to face her, her hands still on the wolf. "He was my husband. We had a child, Cassius Everett. Tobi loved to experiment on things, her specifically, he eventually discovered what she was…"  
Ellie stood with a shocked look on her face as she struggled to believe that the man she killed was Cassey's father.  
"S-so, the man I killed was Cassius's father..?" Ellie slowly stuttered as she looked to the body of the man. The woman nodded. She faced away from them and put her hands over the girl's body and concentrated hard.  
"So do you have healing powers like him too? Or is it a wolf thing?" Ellie curiously asked as she looked over to the lady again.  
"No… Cassey has healing powers!?" She said as she looked to Ellie over her shoulder. Ellie's mouth was half open and about to start talking when she was interrupted by the wince of the dying wolf.

"We need to find a way to heal him… and FAST! Clearly whatever 'healing powers' the girl has _aren't_ working." Joel yelled at both of them as they swung their heads to look at him.  
"We need a cure for the poison and we just lost the best chance we had! Thanks for that Ellie!" He shouted towards her while he faced away. Ellie stood quietly looking slightly shocked from the words she had just heard. She had thoughts that Joel hated her, that she was useless, good for nothing but slowing everybody down, that she wasn't a necessity like she thought. Her mind was in jumble and she had nothing left to do, she couldn't control herself and…  
As Joel was still turned away from Ellie, he heard a thud. The woman pointed and coughed. Joel turned around and saw that Ellie had fainted. He hadn't realised she fainted and thought maybe something bad had happened to her, like she had been shot, poisoned or just plain died.

"Ellie!" He shouted as he darted over to her. He put his hand on her chest and his ear to her mouth. He breathed a huge sigh of relief as he leaned back on his knees. "It's ok, she's alive." He told the woman as he lifted Ellie in his arms.  
The only problem was neither Joel nor the woman knew what had happened. Joel thought that obviously she had just fainted, or what if she was in a coma! He couldn't help but think of all the worst case scenarios until he saw her roll over as if she was in a peaceful sleep. Immediately they both knew she was neither poisoned nor in a coma.

None of the three people knew what would happen next but the wolf was curious, a huge howl arose from the girl as both the woman and Joel's heads shot to the sight of Cassius struggling to get up. She was in pain, anyone could tell, but determined to do something, just they couldn't tell what. She struggled to her feet and slowly started to walk towards Ellie.

"W-what is she doing!?" The woman stuttered as they watched carefully as the girl made her way towards Ellie. She stopped and shook her as if to try and wake her, but there was no response. The girl's legs looked wobbly and as she struggled to hold herself up, she desperately nudged at Ellie to wake her. Nothing anyone tried would work; it was as if she was just in a deep sleep, very deep. The girl turned back into a wolf and licked her arm, then nudged at her face once and again. She tried almost everything gentle she knew and thought of nothing more but the loudest thing she knew.

Suddenly, she belted out a tremendous howl and Ellie's eyes opened wide. She noticed the wolf standing over her and Joel and the woman covering their ears. She was confused by what was happening and she acted quickly, she leaped from her spot and wrapped her arms almost the full way around her. The howl was immediately cut off and the crying of Ellie was now the only noise to break the silence in the room. The sound was muffled as her face was buried deep in Cassey's fur but everyone knew the distinctive sound of crying.

Ellie looked up to the head of the wolf and stopped crying, her face was almost covered in blood as she had been resting her face in the gun wound. She thought that it was all her fault, that there was absolutely nothing she could do, but cry and get in everybody's way. She had completely stopped crying now and she watched as the wolf stood tall and proud, as much as she could, still struggling to keep her footing.  
The wolf swayed from side to side and eventually toppled over with a huge thud. "Cassius!" Ellie and the woman shouted in unison. Ellie crawled over to her and put her hands over her wound, she concentrated hard as if trying to heal her. Cass shifted back to her human form and the poison was able to be seen pulsing through her veins, bright purple. She began to see a violet coloured liquid seeping out of Cassey's wound...


	7. 7-The explosion

She began to see a violet coloured liquid seeping out of Cassey's wound...

* * *

Purple liquid was flowing from the girl and on to the ground. Ellie breathed a huge sigh of relief as she watched the girl's face finally relax. Both Joel and the woman stared at her, they were astonished by what they may have just witnessed.  
"E-Ellie? What the hell was that?" Joel said as his eyes widened. Ellie looked back at him and put her hands up immediately, shaking her head.  
"Oh! N-no, that wasn't me. Must've been her healing finally kicking in."

"H-how!?" The woman yelled, startling everyone and racing towards the girl. "The poison was made from aconite and gold!?" She gently caressed Cassey's head with her fingertips.

Cass groaned and began to reply to everything. "I... Ain't no normal wolf..." She let out a small, pained chuckle as she started to sit herself up again.

A faint mumble came from outside the cabin and then a growl. Joel suddenly shut his mouth and everyone went silent. They heard clicks coming from the distance and saw the head of a runner walk past the window. No one moved, no one made a single sound. The clicking came closer and the heads of 3 clickers and a stalker went past. Joel, as slow as possible, reached for his gun. The holster, thankfully, made no noise but when he started to load it the small, almost silent, sound of metal clinking together attracted the clicker's attention. They stumbled there way into the cabin, stopped, and clicked. One started to slowly make it's way towards Joel and Cassius, Ellie was beginning to feel more and more scared by the second as she watched the clicker tumble towards her. Ellie felt her body jerk forward but immediately stopped herself. She felt as if she was completely unable to move, and so did Joel. All four people were frozen still, Joel, Ellie and even the woman and Cassius, as the clicker made its way towards them, Ellie jerked again but this time her body stopped its self, not her mind.

They were worried, all three, but none of them felt capable to protect themselves. The clicker became aware of Cassey's presence as her body could no longer take the stress and passed out. As soon as its foot lightly tapped her, it went berserk. Cassey's 'plan' had worked; she suddenly sprang up and tripped the clicker up. She shouted to everyone to get out.  
"Guy's run! Get out of here! There's a back door through the bedroom, I don't care just get out!" Ellie was starting to notice the anger in her voice as she watched her stand there getting herself ready for a fight. Bloaters roared as they stomped up the hills and the clicker scrambled around, trying to get up. The clicker rolled about on the floor and, in turn, tripped Cass.

"Guys! RUN!" She yelled almost at the top of her voice from their feet. They all ran, Ellie, Joel, but the woman, her mother, stood in the door way and said, "Cass, I know I should've said this earlier but, me and you, we are immune to the cordyceps… Goodbye, try not to get yourself killed!" Cassey's eyes widened as she paused before scrambling to her feet and looking back at the closed door where they had left. She struggled to process what she had just heard and, before she knew it, was throttled by infected, left, right and centre.

The infected were barking and grasping for whatever flesh they could find, managing to lay many bites over her and leaving large chunks of her flesh missing.

Her thoughts ran in all different directions, how could her mother just turn up and tell her they're immune!? ' _This has all just got to be a dream... Right?_ ' She thought to herself while the infected piled on top of her snarled, biting at her. Her anger built up again and suddenly there was a bright burst of red light. The infected were sent flying across the room and the wolf girl rose from the spot she was in. Her eyes were pure black and her teeth had turned into fangs. She snarled like a wolf would and yelled, "STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS! LEAVE THEM THE HELL ALONE!"

Ellie, Joel and his mother turned round when they heard the scream. They looked towards the cabin and saw a red light bursting out of it. Ellie thought it was an explosive of some sort and worried about her. They heard another scream and Joel said softly to Ellie, "Ellie... Let's go, she'd want us to get as far away from here as possible."

The light was getting bigger and brighter. The cabin suddenly exploded and pieces of wood were sent flying everywhere. Ellie, Joel and Cassey's mother covered their heads and faces with their hands and closed their eyes, waiting for the falling debris to stop. Ellie wanted to rush over there and see if Cass was okay but Joel immediately stopped her by grabbing her by the arm as they started to walk in the other direction, heading for the tree Callus was positioned at.

"I know Ellie, I'm sorry but I can't let you go down there... God knows what kind of infected survived the blast..." Joel cooed as he released his grip on Ellie's arm.

"I-It's okay... We only just met..." Ellie sniffled a bit before walking slightly in front of the other two, making her way to Callus before them and hopping on to his back. Joel and Cassey's mother reached the horse, Joel patted the stallion and stroked at his mane.

There was no sign of infected now... or Cassius...


	8. 8-We are family

There was no sign of infected now... or Cassius...

* * *

The group heard bellowing howl a short distance away from their position. Cassey's mother's hope began to rise as she remembered her daughter's ability to heal. Everyone was completely still and silent as they watched and listened for more howls. Another came, this time it sounded as if it was getting closer by the second.  
Suddenly, Ellie let out a sharp, girlish scream as a huge black wolf burst out from the bushes near them, howling as it bounded happily toward them.

Tongue lolling out of it's mouth, it rubbed itself around everyone's legs ecstatically. The fur of the wolf started to fade and human skin began to show through. Cassius morphed back into her human form, unfortunately without clothing due to the explosion in the cabin.  
"Cassius!" Both her mother and Ellie exclaimed as Cass attempted to cover herself behind the horse.

"Uh... Yeah I'm happy to see ya'll too but I got kind of a situation here..." She laughed as she continued to shelter behind Callus's legs. Joel immediately began to search his backpack for anything to cover her while Ellie and Cassey's mother started laughing too. Eventually, Joel lobbed a pair of Persian blue jeans and a black and yellow Nirvana shirt.  
"Oh... I think you might need this..." Ellie laughed as she pulled a spare sports bra from her pack and threw it in the direction of Cassius. Cass giggled a thanks to her and proceeded to dress herself, still positioned behind Callus. She reappeared a moment later, fully dressed in her new clothes, and thanked Ellie and Joel again for assisting her. A few moments of silence went by before someone broke the silence.

"How did you survive that blast? And, well, what _was_ that blast?" Ellie asked in a perplexed tone of voice as Cassius began to explain herself once again.

"The blast was me..." She simply stated to the group as she sat herself down, leaning against a tree stump. "As you already know, I am a wolf of Ragnarök. But I'm not a regular wolf. The other's were sent to protect the humans, yes, so was I but I've always had a _very_ specific purpose. The demon wolf, **Fenrir** , will bring around Ragnarök and _I_ will be the one who has to destroy him..." Ellie, Joel and her mother all stood looking completely puzzled as she explained the whole story of who she was and why she was sent etc.

"Well," Cass started just after she finished. "We better get moving, I don't wanna have to blow myself up again to save your asses." She giggled as they all started to set off for a new place. They didn't quite know where yet, but they knew it had to be somewhere other than there.

* * *

 **1 hour later...**

"Umm... Guys?" Cassius started. "Hey, I think we're lost?" She was questioning whether they were lost or not before Joel turned his head from the horse to look in her direction.  
"No. I'm sure we're good." Joel butted in. "We just need to find the path again..." They four of them looked around in every direction couldn't see the path they were following.

"Um, the path... Right, which is where?" Ellie giggled as they all started a small search for the road.  
"Sh*t! Yup, we're lost..." Joel stated as he hung his head and hopped back onto the back of Callus.  
"Wait. I think I might know these woods... My pack used to come round here a lot." Cassius sniffed the air as she spoke and immediately her eyes lit up. "Alright! There's a spot in the forest near here that no-one else knows about. The infected can't get to it either!" She heaved Ellie on the back of Callus and patted the horse's rear end to get him moving again. She lead the way as the ventured through the forest in search of a mysterious place that apparently only Cassius knew of.

A few minutes later and they had arrived at a place in the forest where the trees were so compact they could barely get around them. Cassius finally had a chance to show off her strength as she lifted Callus over her shoulder and pushed their way through the trees.  
"Holy crap, Cassius! How the hell!?" Ellie shouted as she watched Cassius let the horse to the ground.  
"Eh, what can I say? I work out?" The four of them laughed to themselves as they came across another huge crowding of trees; the only entrance being a small gap underneath a bunch of roots only just big enough for a man of Joel's size.

"Your horse will have to stay here now. It's cool though, no-one will steal him or anything while we're here." Cass stated to Joel and Ellie as they managed to shimmy their way underneath the trees. They emerged in a huge clearing where there was nothing but the huge circle of trees protecting them, a few log seats and a pre-made fire just waiting to be lit.

"Wow! This place is amazing Cassey! How come you didn't tell me about it?" Her mother stated as Cass prepared her reply.  
"I didn't tell you because I always thought of it as a kind of safe haven, you know? I didn't want it to be found out and ruined by anything..." Her voice sounded distant, like she was remembering something from her past. "Anyway, everybody get settled in, I hope we'll be spending a lot of time here!" Cass jumped about like a child who'd just been given a ton of candy. She sat herself down on a log next to Ellie and began to chat with her.

Cassey's mother suddenly stood up and announced, "I just realised none of us have actually been properly introduced yet! Hello everyone, my name is Ava Everett, nice to meet you all!" She giggled and shook Joel's hand with a huge grin on her face.  
"H-Hi, I'm Joel..." He slowly said, confused as to why she was so happy.  
"Hi Ava! I'm Ellie!" She laughed and reached to shake her hand.

"Oh, we're doing this now huh? I'm Cassius Everett but I'm sure y'all already knew that!" Cass jumped from her seat to light the fire in the middle the circle of seats. She managed to successfully use her lighter to ignite a rag and throw it into the middle of the pile of sticks.

The fire burned brightly in the night and all four people sat relaxing around the warm flames, finally peaceful for the first time in ages. Ellie was almost asleep, her head resting peacefully on Cassey's shoulder. Both girls let out a quiet sigh as they lounged by the fire.

"Damn, I better go feed your horse!" Cass stated, disturbing the peace and gently shifting Ellie's head off her shoulder. "Wait, what _do_ you feed him?" She laughed as she stretched and stood up.

"Uh, we don't really. He eats whatever grass he can find usually..." Joel replied. Cassius chuckled and reached for her backpack.  
"Well, I better go feed the humans!" She sat herself next to the fire and pulled four small tins of beans from her bag. She heated them by the fire for a few minutes and dug her claws in the the tops to pull the lids off. She distributed one can per person and sat herself back next to Ellie.

20 minutes late and both the adults were fast asleep on the ground, heads rested on pillows of bundled leaves. Ellie and Cassius were still awake sitting on their log by the fire. Ellie was trying to think of the last time she'd felt so tranquil and happy.

"Hey Cass? What're you thinking?" Ellie whispered quietly.  
"What am I thinking? Well, first of all, I like that: 'Cass'." She responded softly as she slowly shifted herself closer to Ellie. Ellie let her head fall onto Cassey's shoulder again and sighed.

"What? It was just a way for me to not have to say 'Cassius' all the time..." She could feel her eyelids drooping as she was drifting off to sleep.

"I'm not complaining. I think it's cute you've given me a nickname already." Cassius giggled to herself as she felt Ellie's weight on her get slightly heavier. She was asleep. ' _F*ck. How am I supposed to sleep like this?'_ She thought as she attempted to shift herself and Ellie onto the ground. Eventually she just gave up and lifted Ellie bridal style and gently placed her onto the soft grass by the fire.

She lay herself down and spoke quietly. "We're all a family now..." She smiled to herself as she began to drift off to sleep.


	9. 9-Encounter

"Joel? Joel!?" Ellie shouted as she waved her hands aggressively in front of his face. "C'mon wake up, you're missing all the fun here man! Come on! Get up and dance with us!" Joel lifted his head to the sight of Cass, Ellie and Ava all dancing around in the early morning light. For the first time ever, Ellie saw him crack a smile. She nudged his shoulder and laughed, "That'a boy Joel! Now get up here and dance!" He let out a sigh and pushed himself off the ground and onto the log he was on the night before.

"Ah, come on Joel! I know ya got it in ya!" Cass giggled. "Jus' kick one foot after the other n' you'll get it soon enough!" After a few minutes of teasing and pushing, Joel was up and into Cassey's dancing and seemed to be properly enjoying himself for the first time in at least 20 years.

"How long have you guys been up?" Joel asked as he flopped himself back onto the log along with the others after an exhausting few minutes of dancing.  
"I've been up for ages, that damned friggin' sun woke me up…" Cassius grumbled as the others laughed to themselves. "I don't know 'bout the rest of y'all though."  
The moments passed and the group sat in silence, gazing at the ground. Cass could feel Ellie shifting slowly closer to her.  
Finally, she broke the awkward silence by shouting out, "Hey! What are we gonna do over Winter? I mean, we can't stay here otherwise we'll freeze, so…?" Her question seamed to arouse everyone's attention as they all tried to discuss a plan.

"But isn't this the safest place we could be in a time like this?" Ellie eventually interrupted the debates between the four of them.  
"Well, for now yeah. But what're we gonna do if we run out of food? Or the huge opening in the top of the trees ain't keeping us sheltered for winter, is it?" Cassius replied as they all felt a sudden chill blow through the forest. Winter was coming faster than anyone had ever known it to and they had to find a decent shelter and fast.

* * *

"Alright, people! Let's get moving!" Cass shouted after about ten minutes of discussion. The four of them came to the conclusion that they needed to move, fast, before the snow began. She gestured to Ellie, Joel and Ava to follow her. "C'mon, we gotta get moving."

Cassius glanced left and saw a figure move swiftly between the trees.  
"So, there's nothing to worry about? We'll have a safe journey outta here?" Ellie said nervously as she walked towards Cass. She didn't want Ellie to get worried about anything and get stressed out or scared, so she told a lie… "Y-yeah, Ellie! There's absolutely nothing to be worried about, we'll be fine!" She looked over her shoulder and saw the same, swift figure dash across her line of sight.  
"Okay everyone! Let's get moving!" Cass shouted as she turned around and looked to her right, she saw, again, the figure rush between the protection of the trees. She led the three of them to the border between the forest and the road.

"Hey, I think I forgot something back at the camp, you guys go on, I'll catch you up!" She said as she turned back towards the forest and waved goodbye to the others.  
Back at camp, Cassius found the spot where she first saw the figure and turned around in a circle.  
"C'mon! I know where you are, just come out and I'll help you, are you lost? We're all friends here! Just come out before I hurt you!" Cass shouted as she constantly turned in a circle with searching eyes.  
Her head was immediately drawn to a spot where a tall, muscular, dark figure stepped from the trees.

"What!? Who the hell are you?" Cass shouted as she slowly moved towards him, snarling like a vicious animal.  
"Well, well, well! I could ask you just the same thing… Cassius!" He yelled as he stepped away back into the cover of the trees.

"How do you know who I am?" She yelled, startled from the thought of the dark figure jumping out at any time.

"Well… Let's just say we're old acquaintances… My name is Codi…" The voice was husky and rough. Cassey's eyes widened as she heard the name. Codi…  
"What have you done now Codi!? Who's Alpha did you kill now?" She questioned him as she spiralled around on the spot, searching for him again.

Codi was a Delta wolf in her old pack, they never welcomed her because of her being a Wolf of Ragnarök whereas the pack consisted of only pure werewolves.

"My kind _gave_ you your gift! We created you, why you didn't let me into your pack I don't know!" She was getting more and more frustrated by the second.

"Always hiding in the shadows! Why? Because you're scared!?" Cass shouted mockingly towards the spot where Codi had entered the trees.  
"Oh, I'm not scared, Cassius! I'm just luring you in, closer, and closer…" His voice echoed around the forest and Cass was still rapidly searching for his hiding spot.  
"C'mon! I know you're just toying with me! Come out, come to the _real_ fight!"  
"Oh, you don't know what a _real_ fight is, Cass!" A different voice cam from a different spot.  
"Alto? I thought I told you! Don't pay attention to Codi!" She heard a loud snarl and a constant growl. Suddenly a huge figure jumped out of the trees and caught her from behind.  
"You don't know me, Cass!"  
"You were born into a family of humans," Codi began as he came, slowly, out of the trees, "Our wolf pack accepted you because the Alpha was an arrogant fool! He didn't know what was good for the pack, he didn't even know you were any different from us!"  
"You speak in past tense, he's still the current Alpha!" Cassius shouted as she struggled to escape from Alto's hold.  
"Heh heh! Fool! You still don't know! Our newest wolf, Nero, is a strong challenger! He has no intention of ever being Alpha, but our friend brought the previous Alpha to his bony knees!" Cassey's eyes widened as she struggled harder and harder to break free from Alto's hold but failed every time. "Y-you didn't! You couldn't! H-he's _**dead!?**_ "  
"A-haha! Now she knows! Nero, come out!" A vicious looking frame stepped out from the trees.  
"I killed the Alpha!" He shouted with a snarl and a grim smile on his face, his teeth razor-sharp, eyes that of a demon.


	10. 10-The fight of your life

"A-haha! Now she knows! Nero, come here!" A vicious looking frame stepped out from the trees. "I killed the Alpha!" He shouted with a snarl and a grim smile on his face, his teeth razor-sharp, eyes that of a demon.

* * *

"Argh! Dammit, why!?" Cass shouted as she struggled to break free.

"Shut up Cass! You don't know us! You never have and you never will! Ya hear me? NEVER!" Nero yelled towards her as he walked slowly around her in circles.  
"Now you will _bow_ to your new **A** **lpha**!" Codi snarled as he kicked Cass in the shins, she fell to her knees and screamed in pain.

Through clenched teeth, she yelled back, "Heh! I thought I wasn't part of _your_ pack!?"  
"Just remember, I can't be ruled!" He snarled back and picked up a metal baseball bat from Cassey's backpack. "No one has a higher power than ME!" He swung the bat around and hit Cassius in the head, immediately after, hitting her in the legs and breaking her knee caps. Cass screamed in pain and, almost in an instant, heard multiple different howls growing closer.

"Oh look! Here comes _my_ pack to finish you off!" Codi turned towards the sound and dropped the bat. A large crowd of wolves burst through a clearing in the woods and darted towards Codi.  
"Come, my friends! Witness and take part in the death of the most feared wolf alive! KILL CASSIUS EVERETT!" A number of wolves slowly started towards her, snarling viciously, and the rest just stood obliviously next to Codi and Nero.

"Nero," Codi started, "Teach them how to _kill_ and not just stand around like idiots!" Nero nodded and immediately snarled at the group of wolves, they jumped back in fright and were all shocked by the way Nero was acting. He was the Gamma, the pack protector even though new, he was the most caring wolf they had all ever met, until now. Nero seemed like he was being controlled by Codi. The group of wolves paid attention to Nero and immediately after looked with curious eyes towards Cass. Suddenly, they all grabbed onto Codi with their sharp teeth and strong grips.  
"Argh! You fools! Not me, Cassius! I-I'm your Alpha, GET OFF ME!" Codi screamed as he attempted to shake the wolves off him.

"Haha! It seems you have underestimated the power of _your_ pack, or have you forgotten, the Alphs chose **_me_** for their new leader, not you, never you!" Cass shouted as her head drooped over the ground and his clenched teeth turned into a grin.  
"You may have killed their Alpha, Nero! But you still haven't killed your _REAL_ ALPHA!" The wolves stopped abruptly in their path and listened to what she had to say.  
"Yes, you may well could've made it as Alpha if you killed him, but now you have to kill me!"

"And so it will be done!" Codi yelled as he grinned evilly and nodded towards Nero.  
Nero darted towards Cass and morphed into his wolf, a great, white wolf with a smoky grey patch around his ears. When he reached her, he ripped into her shoulder and pulled. She screamed in pain and the wolves all ran towards Nero to help save Cass.

She pulled one final time and heaved her way out of the grip of the wolves that held her.  
Alto morphed into his wolf and started battling Nero. The two wolves clashed and the raging snarls and growls grew like a rolling thunder. Cass gasped for air and slowly reached for her baseball bat. Codi rushed towards her and stood on her hand just before it wrapped around the bat.  
"Oh-ho-ho! I see a little Alpha struggling for her place in life!"

"Codi! You _really_ don't know what you are getting into!"  
"Oh, I think I do Cass! This _thing_ I am 'getting myself into' is nothing! I have dealt with so much more than you could ever imagine, I have taken down many different Alpha's in my life time, joined, lead and left so many different packs I can't even remember how many there have been!"

"Honestly, Codi?" Cassius started as she pulled herself onto her feet in agony, "I don't think anyone but you, and Nero, cares how many Alpha's you have killed, nor how many packs you have ruled in dictatorships! Every single wolf here knows I was born into a human family but all but two have the exception that I shouldn't be allowed in, now I will take my rightful place as Alpha and you shall be exiled, if you are not killed first!" Cass slowly started to take weak steps towards Codi, her legs shaking and one second from collapsing each time a step was taken.

Every word Codi heard made him even more angry until he suddenly burst out yelling, "You are not the Alpha of this pack and you shall never be! You will not rule over me! No one ever will! I am the Alpha of all Alpha's, I will not be mocked like some kind of idiot! You have no way to ever possibly kill me, I'LL KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME, YOUR GONNA DIE!" He darted towards Cass but stopped in his tracks while she morphed into her wolf, she began to slowly walk towards Codi and the rest of the pack, she stopped, sat on hier haunches, threw her head back and began to howl.

The howl echoed through the forest and all of the pack stopped everything to join in. Codi and Nero stood and gawped at the sight of the wolves all howling in chorus and just ignoring them. Codi began to snarl and charge towards Cassius but, to his surprise, Nero stopped him. He looked over to him in amazement and saw him shake his head and say, "Our new Alpha has taken her place, we listen to her now, leave this pack or earn your place through respect and don't _ever_ try to involve us in your evil schemes again!"

"B-but Nero!? You were our friend, our compan—"  
"Your slave! I did what you wanted me to because I thought you were my Alpha, I thought you were my friend! But no, you just wanted to use me for my strength, but now that I have a real Alpha, I have no need to bow to you, NO-ONE DOES!" Nero turned around, placed his hand on Codi's chest, and, with an immense force, pushed him to the ground. Codi groaned in pain when his back skidded against the rock-hard mud, "You'll pay for this Nero, you'll see, you and this damn pack!" Codi morphed back into his wolf form and ran away as fast as he could, without looking back.

* * *

She smiled and walked away as fast as she could to get back to Ellie, Joel and Ava.  
Finally she reached the spot where she left them, but when she found her way out of the forest, they were nowhere to be found…


	11. 11-Taken

She smile and walked away as fast as she could to get back to Ellie, Joel and Ava.  
Finally she reached the spot where she left them, but when she found her way out of the forest, they were nowhere to be found…

* * *

"Ellie!?" Cass screamed, searching left, right and centre, anywhere she could reach. "Ellie!? Joel, c'mon! Mom!?" She cupped her hands around her mouth and started to yell again.

"Ellie!? C'mon guys? Where are you!?" She fell to her knees and clenched her teeth. She thought of all the places they could have gone, but America was just too big! Cass started to sob, "Goddamn you Codi! If you have even so much as touched them, I'm gonna make you wish you were never born!" She shouted as she slammed her fists into the ground.

* * *

 **1 hour later**

"C'mon Ellie! You promised you'd stay..." Cass mumbled wearily as she flopped to the ground with exhaustion. She'd been searching for a whole hour with no rests yet still couldn't seem to find any trace of them.

The howls of a wolf pack were coming closer yet Cassius just lay, completely still and completely motionless. The wolves continued to run and never stopped howling until they had reached the limp body of their Alpha. The first to come forward was a strong looking wolf with a smoky grey patch around his ears. He sniffed around Cassey's body and looked back to the pack, he nodded his head and morphed into a large, young figure. Smoky grey hair and ocean green eyes. He put his hand on Cassey's shoulder and gently shook her. She groaned and pushed herself up off the ground.

She looked over her shoulder and opened her mouth to speak, "Nero? Wha? What are you and the pack doing here? I-I thought you were going to head to Wyoming?" She closed her eyes, opened them, and looked towards the pack, bewildered.

"We were in the beginning," Nero started, "But we heard Codi's howl, as if he was preparing for battle..." Cassey's eyes widened when she heard the news. She jumped up to her feet and grabbed Nero's shoulders. Every word she said, she shook Nero.

"Do you know where he is!?"  
"Uh,n-"  
"C'mon Nero! Listen, use your ears!"  
"Cass, we don-"  
"NERO! TELL ME WHERE CODI IS!" She shook Nero one final time and her hands dropped from his shoulders. She hung her head in despair as she realised that if no-one in the pack knew where Codi was, and therefore didn't know where Ellie, Joel and her mom were, she had an extremely slim chance of finding them before anything happened.

"Cassius... I'm truly sorry that we can't find Codi, but why would you want to see that unfaithful piece of sh*t anyway?" Nero spoke as he placed a gentle hand on Cassey's shoulder to comfort her.  
"C-Codi... When he ran he... Ellie!" Cass was too sad and caught up in her own thoughts that she couldn't even speak clearly, she couldn't even put together a full sentence.  
Suddenly, Cassey's head flicked up and she started to sniff the air.

"Uh-uh... Cass?" Nero stared at her as he watched his Alpha move slowly around the ground, sniffing, searching... She stood up and started to growl, she had caught the scent of something, someone.  
Suddenly, she morphed into her wolf form and darted towards the forest exit. Nero morphed too and he and the pack followed after Cassius.

* * *

Cass came to a halt in front of a large tree. She stopped and looked up the trunk of the tree and started to sniff the air again. She started to growl, and that gentle, harmless growl quickly turned into a vicious snarl. She morphed back into a human and continued to snarl as she explored the exterior of the tree. She stopped, everything silent, and slumped down, back against the tree. Her voice was a frustrated snarl. She began to yell, "Their trail stops here! How the hell am I going to save them now!?"

Cassey's hopes began to fall along with her expression. "Codi is holding Ellie and we need to find him and save them..." She snarled as she looked around the pack.  
"So, Cass!?" Nero began and her head spun around to look at him, "Who is this 'Ellie'? Why do we need to save her?" Cass looked at him with an open mouth, she tried her best to think up an excuse other than the truth, but her attempt was a fail.

"Because..." She started, she wasn't ready to accept the truth, even to herself. "Because... Ugh! J-just, she's a friend..." Nero stood staring at her as if he'd never had a friend before. Cassius didn't realise how close she'd gotten to them; they'd spent 6 days at that camp and had became closer friends that Cass thought they would've. Nero suddenly started to speak.  
"Cass, you are the Alpha of this pack and we will follow you to the gates of hell, but at a time like this, we can't afford to deal with personal matters! If this is all just because 'she's a friend', then we can't help you..."

"Nero! It's not just because she's my friend! It's because... 'Cause they are like a family to me, my mom is there as well! Joel, he's like a father to Ellie and... They're my friends!" Cass nodded towards Nero, he hung his head and thought. He looked over his shoulder to the pack and back towards their Alpha, he nodded and explained that they were only assisting because she was their Alpha.

"I still don't know how we're going to find them anyway... I mean, you've lost their scent..." Nero spoke up after a few minutes of walking in silence. "And maybe Codi didn't get to them, maybe they set off down the road or something...?" He was attempting to lighten the mood and comfort Cassius, she appreciated it but clearly it wasn't working.

"They were on a horse, if they just took off we would be able to see tracks..." Her voice trailed off as she spotted something move in the trees just off the side of the road. She began to walk off the edge of the road as if she was in a trance. She lifted her hand, beckoning for Nero to follow her. He appeared at his Alpha's side and she spoke. "I saw something..."

"Maybe it was infected. I doubt it was your friends, why would they be in the forest rather than on the road where it's safer...?" Nero was trying to convince Cass to just leave it and continue up the road, but she was certain about staying and finding out what the movement was.

Cassius abruptly leapt into a spot amongst the trees. Nero saw a figure struggling under her strong grip.

"Codi! Where the hell are they!?" Cassius was yelling at the figure she'd pinned. "I know you took them!" She was in a huge rage and wasn't in the mood for any bullsh*t coming from him.

"Yeah, I took them! And you're never going to find them!" He laughed in her face and she immediately slashed at his face with her right hand. Her claws dug into the side of Codi's face yet he continued to laugh.  
"If you've so much as harmed a single hair on they're heads I will kill you!" It was becoming clear to Nero and the rest of the pack that she was unable to control her anger. Cassius burst out in a fit of rage and began slashing at Codi's chest with her claws. She only stopped when Nero managed to heave her off Codi's body and pin her down by the shoulders.

"Cass! I get that you hate him and that you're angry right now, but you need to calm yourself, we need him to find your friends!" Nero was struggling to keep her under his grasp. She instantly stopped struggling against his grip when she heard him say 'we need him'. She threw Nero off her and composed herself as she walked towards Codi.  
"The only reason I'm sparing you, is because I couldn't find them without you. Just know that the second I have them again, I'm going to kill you." The whole pack was surprised at the irrational way Cassius was acting.

Codi was lying in the mud, gasping for his breath as he screamed when he saw the giant slashes engraved is his chest.  
"Oh come on, stop being such a p***y! We all know you can heal!" Cass yelled angrily at the injured boy in the mud. His wounds began to close up and he pushed himself to his feet. He brushed himself off and straightened his posture.

"Well, if it isn't the oh so great Alpha, Cassius Everett, begging for my help!"


	12. 12-Location

"Well, if it isn't the oh so great Alpha, Cassius Everett, begging for my help!"

* * *

Cassey's whole body ached to tackle him again and continue what she'd started by ripping at his chest, this time killing him. Her arms twitched and her chest began lurching towards Codi. But she didn't move, she knew she couldn't yet. She needed him to find Ellie and the others.  
"Don't think I won't kill you when we've got them back." Cassey's voice was cold, stale. All emotion was draining out of her as she spoke.  
"And why should I help _you_?" Codi grinned as Cassey's head swirled round to look at him. Her eyes were that of a killer, ready to pounce at any time to finish what she'd started. The look she gave him chilled him to the bone, but his grim look remained, masking his fear.

"Look, I need you're help and we can all clearly see you standing there practically p**sing yourself." She was on the verge pouncing again as she watched his grim look grow.  
"I'm not helping you, especially not if you're just going to kill me afterwords..." He flicked his hand at her and turned to lean on a tree.

"What if we didn't?" Nero stepped in, placing his hand on his Alpha's shoulder to reassure her that he had a plan. "What if we don't kill you, does that sway your decision at all?" They could see the temptation in Codi's eyes.  
"And why should I trust that you'll keep to your promises...?" Codi wasn't buying it. He wasn't about to trust his enemies over his life.  
"I never lie, never have, never will. It's just not me, and that is a fact." Cass butted in. She was right, in all her life she had never told a lie and she wasn't about to over something as valuable as her friend's lives. "I'll let you live, I will leave you be as long as you never come near me, my friends or my pack again!"

"Well I'll be damned... You drive a hard bargain Cassius Everett. But I guess for my life, I have to take you up on your offer." Cassey's eyes lit up as she heard the words coming out of Codi's mouth. "Your friends are tied up in a bunker just west of here." Codi started to make his way across the forest and away from them when Cassius unexpectedly jumped from her spot and pinned him again.  
She pulled him up with his hands behind his back and said, "You're coming with us, d***head. I ain't taking any chances on losing them again."

* * *

After nearly 2 hours of walking, the sun was starting to go down and Cassius was beginning to doubt that Codi was telling the truth. They had been following his directions exactly.

Cass stopped in her tracks as she spotted a small, dark building in the distance. "There it is..." Codi started. "That's where your precious _friends_ are. Can your little pet here let me go now?" He spat as he struggled against Nero's hold.

"Not yet... I still don't know if I can trust you... You're coming in with me." Cassius stated as she began to walk forwards, leading Nero and Codi closer to the bunker. The closer they got they could hear quiet and muffled pleas for help.  
"Ellie! Joel? You in there!?" She yelled as the cries grew in volume, sounding more and more desperate by the second. Cass lifted her right leg and slammed her foot into the middle of the door, throwing the door of it's hinges and onto the ground behind it. She sprinted down the flight of stairs and into the bunker's underground storage space. She immediately sped her self up as she noticed the three piled into a corner, hands bound behind their backs and mouths gagged.

"Haha! I'm soooo glad you keep your promises, Cassius!" Codi laughed as he finally pulled his hands free from Nero. "Y'know why!? Because..."  
Ellie's gag fell below her mouth and she interrupted Codi's speech. "Cass, the walls are rigged!"

"Hah! The girl's smart!" Codi grimaced. "This bunker is rigged to blow in about 20 seconds!" He laughed maniacally as he sprinted up the stairs and out of the bunker, getting as far away from it as he could in the time.

Cassius tried desperately to untie Ellie, Joel and her mother as fast as she could but it occured to her that she couldn't do it in time. She instantly morphed into her wolf and jumped to shelter the three. Ellie was brought to the point of tears, and Joel and Ava were worried about the two teens.  
Codi wasn't lying about the bunker being rigged, and a few seconds later the whole building was reduced to nothing but rubble. Nero had managed to leave the bunker in time thanks to Cassey's order for him to leave. He was standing by the rest of the pack, a few metres away from the bunker, and watching in awe as the building exploded outwards, leaving a large crater and a huge pile of rubble.

The wolves watched as a small pile of the rubble started to shift, then a shape began to lift it's way out of the debris. It was Cassius, she had morphed back into a human and was holding an unconscious Ellie, carrying her bridal style out of the wreckage. Joel and Ava were conscious and slowly lifting their way out of the broken bricks that surrounded them. Cass slowly limped her way towards the pack and collapsed on the ground and leaned on a tree behind her, Ellie still in her arms.  
She began to attempt to shake Ellie awake as Joel and Ava made their way closer.

"C'mon Ellie, c'mon! You promised you wouldn't go... But I found you baby girl, c'mon wake up!" Cass was beginning to think that she wasn't going to wake up when she heard coughing, then spluttering and Ellie began to shift in her arms.  
"Given me a nickname already, huh? I think it's cute..." Ellie whispered, her voice croaky. Cass gazed at her, teary eyed and relieved, smiling like a giddy child who'd just been given a pile of candy.  
Ellie had always admired Cassey's beauty but being this close to her and lying in her arms and across her lap, she began to notice every single small feature that made Cass Cass. The light sprinkling of freckles that made the girl look so young, the way the corners of her lips curled into a smile. Ellie could feel her heart beating faster as she gazed, Cassey's blue and purple mismatched eyes looking back

Cassius gently stroked away a stray hair from Ellie's face with her thumb. Ellie wrapped her weak hands around the back of Cassey's head, pulling her in until their faces were just centimetres away from each other. The girls' lips were seconds away from connecting when Nero came running over with Joel to check that Cass and Ellie were okay and hadn't been hurt by the blast.

Cass hung her head in a state of sarcastic sadness as Nero knelt next to her. Ellie and Cass pulled themselves farther away from each other and laughed.  
"Hey, you didn't manage to get out before the blast, y'all okay?" Nero cooed as he pushed himself off his knees and stood above them.

"Ya, thanks Nero, we're good." Cass was still giggling as she patted Ellie's shoulder. "You gotta get off me though, we should get going."

"But I don't wanna walk..." Ellie giggled and flashed Cass a cheeky smile as she feigned weakness and threw the back of her hand to her forehead.  
"Oh really? That's how it is huh?" Cass grabbed her legs and threw Ellie over her shoulder in a fireman's lift. The two couldn't stop giggling and Cassius put two fingers to her mouth and whistled as loud as she could for the horse. A few seconds later and Callus had arrived next to Cass. She began to lower Ellie's wriggling body onto the back of the horse and walked a few feet away.

"There, now you don't have to walk!" She laughed one final time and helped Joel onto the back of Callus, sitting him in front of Ellie.  
"Can you walk?" She shouted behind herself towards Ava.

"Yeah, I should be fine. Hey, how'd you manage to survive that explosion?" Ava questioned as she began to head towards the horse.

"Oh, um... Just a little thing I picked up when I blew up those infected back at the cabin..." Cass was slightly reluctant to go into details about who she was and what kind of powers she had. "Alright! Let's get headed out of here and to some decent shelter for the winter!" Cassius dismissed the rest of the pack and thanked Nero for his assistance as they set off towards the distance.

* * *

 **A/N: Just like to take this author's note to provide a HUGE thanks to everyone who has so far reviewed, followed or favourited this fic. Again, thanks soooo much to all you guys! (I say all, it's not that many, but IT IS TO ME KAY!? XD)  
Flux-Impulse out XD**


	13. 13-Hopelessly hoping

As the four were headed out to attempt to find some form of acceptable shelter, they were chatting the whole way down the road. Ava was walking in front, chatting next to Joel, and Cass and Ellie were next to each other, talking about guns.

Cass spoke to Ellie, holding a specific gun in her hands to describe it to Ellie. "This is an AK-12 with a 5.45x39mm magazine and balanced recoil." The girl chatted as she walked along beside Ellie, who was above her on the back end of Callus.  
"Wow, Cass! I never knew you were so into guns!" Ellie butted in between Cassey's explanations.  
"Yeah, oh my God they're so interesting!" She opened her backpack and swapped guns, pulling out another. "This was the first firearm to bridge the gap between long range rifles, machine guns, and sub-machines, it's called an StG44 and I also have a Krummlauf to attach! I can't believe how lucky I was to come across one of these!" Ellie couldn't help but smile at how excited Cassius got to share her knowledge on guns.

"Is that you banging on about them guns again, Cass!?" Ava shouted behind her to Cassius, laughing as she spoke. "Y'know Ellie? She's always been like this, since she got her first gun!" The four of them laughed and Cass continued to describe different guns to Ellie.  
"It's okay, Cass. I don't mind it, it's actually pretty cool to learn about!" Ellie laughed along with the other three and continued to listen to everything Cassius had to explain.

"This..." Cass grunted as she replaced the clip. "Is my mini Uzi. I have a few sub-machine guns but this one is no doubt the smallest I have. It holds 9 mil. ammo and has a rate of automatic fire of 600 rounds per minute..." Cassey's words faded in Ellie's ears as she thought back to the moment they'd had after the explosion. She woke to the sight of Cassius hovering above her, teary eyed. Oh how much she'd wanted to kiss her there, the moment only to be spoiled by that damned werewolf. Her mind only came back down to earth when she heard Cassey's voice softly shout her name.

"Ellie? Hey Ellie!?" She giggled as she finally got Ellie's attention. "You looked like you were day dreaming!" She laughed for a minute.  
"Well... I kinda was..." Ellie mumbled, attempting to say it quiet enough for Cass not to hear her. Apparently she never spoke quiet enough.

"Huh? Oh yeah? What about?" Cassius questioned as Ellie could feel her face becoming flushed, she coughed and looked away, attempting to shield her face from Cassius.  
"Uhh... I-It's nothing..." She stuttered as Cassius opened her mouth to speak again.  
"Oh c'mon baby girl! I wanna know!" Cassius was laughing and poking at Ellie's jacket sleeve. At the second Ellie heard her say 'baby girl' her head flicked round and she looked Cass dead in the eye.

Ellie could feel her face being more and more flushed the longer she looked into Cassey's eyes. "I..." She stuttered. "Was thinking about when we nearly kissed..." She muttered and Cass immediately began to laugh. Ellie looked at her with the most confused look she'd ever given. She couldn't figure out why Cass was laughing at what she'd just told her.

"Oh come on! Why're you so embarrassed? It was cute... _You_ were cute!" Cass continued to nudge and tease Ellie as the two girls giggled along with each other.  
They proceeded to discuss Cassey's guns and how she was 'totally in love with' her Remington 1100 Tactical shotgun.

"So wait..." Ellie stopped Cassius as she pulled her revolver out of her pocket. "Can you tell me what this is?" Ellie asked as she handed Cass the gun. She fiddled with it for a moment, turning it around in her hands.  
"This," She began. "Is..." She thought for a moment and then started speaking again. "Remington Model 1890 and... .44-40 Winchester..." She looked up at Ellie who looked completely lost the second she mentioned '.44-40'.  
"Uh, that's the cartridges." The two laughed together again.

"How have you ever had the time to learn all this crap about guns?" Ellie chuckled as she looked in the direction of Cassius.  
"Huh? Oh, right. I was in the military, training y'know." Ellie was, for the first time, now noticing the dog tags bouncing on Cassey's chest as she walked. "That's where I got these!" She said as she lifted her dog tags and waved them about. Ellie looked shocked as she realised that Cassius may have been in the same military zone as she was.

"W-Wait! Which military? I mean, where?" She blurted out, trying to figure out if she'd known her before now. Cassius began to think back for a minute, taking a while to reply.  
"Boston QZ. Why?" Cass replied while Ellie looked deep in thought.

"I was at a military boarding school in Boston, I might've seen you at some of the drills there?" She was racking her brain trying to think back to if she had seen Cassius there before.  
"Oh yeah! Our military group would come over and help out with drills and stuff. Yeah, I knew you!" She shouted as she realised everything.  
"Really? I didn't know you..." Ellie replied before being interrupted by Cassius again.  
"Yeah we knew you! You were the girl with the Walkman, right?" Ellie confirmed Cassey's question and they laughed together once again, remembering how terrible their military drills were.

"Haha! I remember I had to come and help you out reloading your shotgun, your ammo got stuck and I had to switch out your guns. And just as a joke I gave you paint-shells instead of real ones!"

"Hey, can I ask though..." Ellie started, her look and tone of voice killing the mood and silencing Cassey's laughter. "How come you stay'd to protect us at the bunker? I mean, you could've just ran and protected yourself..."

Cassius sighed, then smiled and looked Ellie in the eye, beginning her answer.

"When you're hopelessly hoping for something impossible, you find something tangible to believe in and protect... _You_ are my something tangible..."

* * *

 **25 minutes later**

Cassius abruptly stopped walking and laughing, immediately telling everyone to stop moving. They pulled Callus to a halt and listened, as still as they could be. She shushed everyone and slowly walked forward, shotgun in hand. She stopped, sniffed the air, and ran back to the other three. She instantly slapped the rear end of Callus and yelled, "Get moving! Go! Run!" They all ran off, leaving Cassius behind to fend off the bandits hiding in the forest. She was massively outnumbered, but she knew she could handle it.

One guy jumped out, seemingly coming out of nowhere and ran at Cass with a knife. She pulled her shotgun up and pulled the trigger, the shot echoing through the air like thunder. Ellie heard the shot and hoped that Cassius was okay. She heard more shots and wished she could just jump off the back of the horse and run to help her, the only thing stopping her was what Cass had said earlier, 'hopelessly hoping for something impossible'.

"Come on! Is that all you've got you pieces of sh*t!?" Cassius yelled in the direction of the bandits.  
"Ugh! She's just a little girl! Kill her!" Cass heard one of the guys yell at his partner, the two of them being the only ones that hadn't been put down by Cass.

She got too frustrated with trying to shoot them with minimal ammo used, so she gave up and leapt out of cover from behind a car, sprinted towards the two of them and morphed into her wolf. She pinned them and began ripping at their throats. Jumpring off their bodies, happy with her work, she began to sprint towards where the other three had taken off.

* * *

 **5 minutes later**

She'd finally managed to catch up with the others and morphed back into her human form, standing just a few feet in front of Callus, causing him to stop in his tracks. She chuckled, stroked at his mane and patted him to signal to keep moving. He started to walk forward again, Cassius joining them walking beside Ellie.

"You okay? You look a bit tired?" Ellie asked Cass as she smiled upwards to her.  
"Nah, I'm good. Just a little trouble with some bandits!" She smiled and looked away.

"Hey, Cass? You've got a little something on your mouth..." Ellie pointed out as she tried to imagine it was anything but blood.  
"Oh... Uh... Sorry, I mean, yeah..." Cass sighed as she tried to explain herself without actually mentioning that she'd gruesomely and violently ripped the throats of those bandits completely to shreds, as easy as if they were paper. She hated speaking about what she was or what she had to do to people in order to survive.

"I don't know about you, but... I don't care what you are... I will still care about you and I couldn't care less about what you do to keep us and yourself safe, as long as you're alive..." Ellie spoke as Cassey's head whirled round to look at her, shocked at what she'd just heard. "You're my something tangible..." Cassey's words rolled from Ellie's lips like a waterfall, sounding natural and as if she'd been dying to say them. Cass had always thought of herself as an abomination, as something that couldn't be loved... But then she met Ellie, the girl who flipped all her opinions upside down...

* * *

 **A/N: Only a little side note, not really that important so if you want just skip this...  
FOR ANYONE WHO READS BOTH THIS AND ' _Schatten Damon':_ I swear I am NOT neglecting the next chapter for the AoT fic! I have just recently had the worst case of writer's block in my life, along with the piling up and overflowing amount of essays I have to write! **

**I have prelims coming up in January (LESS THAN 2 MONTHS AAAAAAH) so please try not to kill me if there isn't many chapters up for any of the stories between now and Jan.[I'm also working on a story for Wattpad so if ye wanna go check out that in a bit go ahead but ye know. I have one chapter for a new story call ' _The boy in the woods'_ ] GETTIN' DAT PROMO! [Wattpad username is the same as fanfic]**

 **Thanks again so much for anyone who reads these fics, I appreciate feedback no matter whether its negative or positive so feel free to leave a review! Thanks again! Bye!**


	14. 14-Cold kiss of winter

Then she met Ellie, the girl who flipped all her opinions upside down...

* * *

"Oh man. I am way too tired of walking!" Cassius announced as Callus and Ava continued to march in search for shelter. Winter seemed to be coming faster than ever. The air above and the ground below both freezing in seconds. Frost had already left a thin, crisp layer of white over the top of the ground, grass and trees. Survival for anything was weakening as the nights grew shorter and colder. The cold winds were blowing softly and the snowflakes were landing daintily on the branches of the bare, skeletal trees and atop Cassius's hair.

"Hey, Ellie." She motioned the the sky as she nudged the brunette's shoulder. "Look! It's snowing!" Cass laughed, threw her head back and stuck her tongue out to try and catch the snow. Her actions made Ellie giggle and push her on the shoulder.

"You're so childish Cass!" Ellie laughed as she repeated her actions, throwing her head back and opening her mouth to catch the snow.  
"Dude! C'mon, I'm not _that_ childish, am I?" They laughed together as Cassius heaved Ellie's body off the back of the horse, holding her high above her head, her arms stretched out fully. "I mean, I have guns, I was in the military, I can lift a 14 year old girl as far above my head as my arms will reach..." She stated, dismissing her actions as if lifting Ellie was nothing at all.

Ellie squirmed and kicked as she writhed in Cassey's hands. "Hey! Cass put me down!" She squealed as she wriggled above the taller girl's head. She began squirming so much that she fell from Cass's hands, rolling off the edges of her grip and flying to the ground. She let out a startled scream as she fell, expecting to smash to the cold, hard ground but instead being swiftly caught in the strong, comforting arms of Cassius. Ellie let out a deep sigh of relief, ridding herself of the panic she felt as she fell.  
"C'mon, did you really think I was just gonna let you fall to the ground without trying to catch you?" The taller girl laughed as she continued to carry Ellie bridal style, walking next to the horse and Ava. "You're far too precious to just let slip from my hold..." She smiled comfortingly into Ellie's eyes and replaced her onto the back of Callus, proceeding to search for shelter.

* * *

 **30 minutes later**

"Guy's," Cass began, stepping out in front of Callus to halt him. "Stay here a moment, I think I can see a cabin..." Her voice drifted off as she walked into the distance, slightly out of the other's range or sight. She turned back and waved her arms around , jumping like and idiot to signal that all was clear.

"Okay, she's given us the all clear, let's go." Ava stated as she gently patted Callus's rear end to get him moving again. The three walked off towards Cassius, and as she came into view a reasonably sized cabin could be seen behind her.

"Alright, c'mere Callus." Cassius mumbled as she pulled the horse over to a very large, open door and ushered him inside the building. Ellie and Joel hopped off the horse and Ava made her way inside to leave room for Cass to close over the door, heaving the metal cover down from the roof.  
"Hey! What a great find huh? Good sized cabin to shelter us, large door to shelter your horse, not extremely damaged furniture, and best of all, no infected!" Cass laughed as she slumped herself onto a slightly damaged and torn couch, Ellie flopping down along side her. Cassius felt her face begin to flush, she cleared her throat and shuffled as far over to the edge of the couch as she could. She knew exactly how she felt about Ellie, and it wasn't like she was hiding it; but still, being so close to her made Cass uncomfortable.

"So... What do we do now?" Joel announced in a dry, bored tone of voice. Ellie and Cassius sat in silence, Cass nervously shuffling her feet, and Ava stood by a kitchen counter searching for anything to scrounge.

"Well," Ava began, her voice seeming distant and distracted. "I guess we hole up here for now... Seems like the best and safest way to get around this winter."

"Imma go count how much food I've got, anyone wanna give me theirs so I can tally it all up to a total?" Cassius jumped from her spot, using the arm rest as leverage to pull herself to her feet. She walked around the back of the couch and ruffled Ellie's hair as she grabbed the two girls' backpacks. Joel and Ava handed Cassius their backpacks and slumped themselves into whatever kind of furniture there was; Joel positioning himself beside Ellie, and Ava dusting off an old, raggedy suede chair. Cass swirled around the corner of the kitchen counter and heaved the four backpacks atop the unit, emptying the food contents of each.

A few moments later and Ellie felt herself beginning to doze off. She rubbed her face with the backside of her hand and looked over at Cassius. The girl was sitting on an old mouldy stool and was carefully stacking the tins of food into a tower, her tongue curling over her top lip as she concentrated. "Et voila!" Cassius abruptly shouted as she pushed herself from the counter and off the stool. "2 cans of bacon, 4 cans of hotdogs, 7 canned peaches, 3 tins of pasta, 12 cans of some random crap that I can't read, and finally, 19 cans of random beans! What a friggin' stash!" Cass laughed to herself as Ellie walked over towards her.

"Damn, how do we have so much?" Ellie took the top can down from the tower and turned it so she could read it. "Sausages and beans..." She scoffed in a small chuckle and replaced the can at the top of the stack and sat on a stool opposite Cassius.  
"So what time do you think it is?"

Cassius pulled a military hoodie over her shoulders and spoke with a child-like happiness. "Just the right time to catch the sunset!" She hurriedly made her way towards the back door and quickly shut it behind her, attempting not to let much cold air in.

* * *

"Hey Cass! Watcha doing?" Ellie spoke softly as she walked around to sit next to the red haired girl. She positioned herself on the wall just beside Cassius, clearing the snow off the ledge before she sat down.

"Oh? Nothing much, just came out here to watch the sunset…" Cass replied as she felt the younger girl's head rest on her shoulder.

"Well, I hope it's beautiful..." Ellie mumbled. The winter sun shone against the snow, making it glisten in the evening light like crystals.

"I can't imagine it being anymore beautiful than you…" Cassius commented as she lightly rested her head against Ellie's. Ellie opened her mouth to speak but quickly shut it. Instead, she just shifted her head to look up at the red haired girl. Cass looked down into her eyes and softly smiled as she gently brushed a stray hair from Ellie's face. Ellie could feel her heartbeat pulsing in her chest as she red into the maroon purple and electric blue eyes of the girl opposite her. She was once again noticing all her simple features. Cassey's freckles keeping her face young no matter the amount of muck or blood that covered her. The way her smile reached her eyes, curving them happily no matter how tired she looked. She lifted her hand and wrapped it around the back of Cassey's neck, pulling her in that tiny bit closer.

Their lips were millimetres from touching when Cass gently pulled Ellie in by her hips, forcing a pile of snow from the ledge and closing the distance between them. Their lips connected and Ellie felt happier than she thought she ever could, living in a world like this. The kiss was soft, though it was filled with a need that Cass had never felt before. She realised how chapped her lips were as she felt them against Ellie's soft ones.

Cassius broke their kiss, her warm breath against Ellie's lips sending shivers down the brunette's spine.

"Hey, look…" Cass whispered, removing her forehead from Ellie's and looking into the distance. "The sun's setting!" The two sat in silence, Cassey's arm still around Ellie's waist and Ellie continuing to smile like she'd just been given a puppy, her head resting softly on Cassey's shoulder.

The sunset was painting the sky an array of pink, red, yellow and orange, the colours reflecting off the snow. The pale moon was beginning to rise more into view, getting brighter by the minute.

Cassius repeated the words she'd felt so closely related to her feelings for Ellie...

 _"You are my something tangible..."_

* * *

 ** _AGAIN_ I really need to apologise in advance for a long, slightly alarming, gap between the next few chapter as these previous 14 have been written in advance and I've finally caught up! The same goes for my story _Shatten-Damon_ so if it does turn out to take months to upload another chapter to each story please don't kill me! **

**Over the next few weeks and Christmas holidays I will (hopefully) be incredibly focused on studying, revising and working over past-papers in prep. for my prelims in January. Wish me luck peeps and please don't give up on the updates over the next couple of weeks (maybe months XD)**


	15. 15-Cannibalistic Undertones

_"You are my something tangible..."_

* * *

Cassius woke earlier than anyone else. The winter sun hadn't risen yet and the pale grey light behind the clouds illuminated the dull cabin. Cassius realised she had fallen asleep on the couch as apposed to the beds they had assigned to each person. Rising from her position on the tattered furniture, Cass spotted the collapsed stack of food tins and decided to try hunting something a little more fresh. She stretched her arms above her head, muscles straining, and yawned in time. The rotted floorboards creaked as she attempted to make her way to her backpack and hoodie, trying not to wake anyone else up.

As she reached her hoodie, she heaved it up and hastily pulled the sleeves over her bare arms. With the hoodie hanging loosely off her shoulders and arms, she grabbed her backpack and stuffed it full with a few cans of food and her weapons, making sure she had as many arrows as she needed to go hunting.

"Callus, probably best if you stayed here boy…" Cass mumbled as she stroked his mane and pulled her backpack over her shoulders, gripping on to the bow as she stuffed arrows into a holster by her hip.  
Feet sliding down the snowy hills and frost-covered environment crunching beneath her feet, Cassius pulled an arrow from her holster and positioned it in the arrow rest.

"Can you believe none of those guys made it back? Man, I'm just glad I was on a hunt when David sent the group..."

Cassius hushed herself immediately and ducked down beneath a branch that had fallen with the weight of the snow. Her ears began to twitch as she heard faint voices far off in the distance. The speaking grew closer as Cassey's heart began to beat faster.

"Yeah... Who the hell d'you think it was? Military? Fireflies?"

A third voice chimed in to the conversation.  
"Keep your voices down, we don't know how far out they could've come... And David wants us back with at least something found, hunts have been weak recently." Cassius shifted quietly as she took in the information she heard from the hunters' chatter.

"S**t! You guys hear that?" One of the hunters called out as she slowly attempted to move her feet from under herself, preparing for a fight.

"Umm... Could it be who killed them?"

"Dude! Just shut up already!"

Cassius attempted to hide herself more and more as she heard the crunching of snow under the hunters' feet. Backed up as far as she could and back pressed flush against the tree, her ears twitched again as she heard the clicks of a gun reloading.

"Uh... Hey Lewis!? You might wanna get over here." Cassey breathed a huge sigh of relief as she watched the hunter's feet disappear round the corner and back down to where the other two were standing. The screaming and distressed moans of runners grew in volume as a group of four rushed around the trees and chased the hunters off, multiple gunshots being fired as they ran.  
"Who the hell is David..?" Cassey's breath fogged with the freezing air as she stood from her crouched position and patted the snow off her clothes.

* * *

"Cassey? Ugh, where the hell is she?" Ellie's voice echoed through the cabin as her, Joel and Ava searched around for a sign of where Cassius had gone.

"Hey, I got something." Joel shouted from the kitchen. A hardback copy of _'The Maze Runner'_ was lying on the counter with a message carved into the cover. "Out hunting, back soon."  
The second Joel read the message everyone's heads whipped around as they heard gunshots and yelling.

Three shots, presumably pistols, quickly followed by the strangled, frenzied wailing of runners. "Oh goddamn Cass, why do you always get into trouble..?" Ellie sighed as she heard three different voices of men screaming in both pain and terror as the runners ripped and gnawed at the soft flesh around their necks and wrists. Ellie immediately ran to the window of the cabin, leaning her weight against it's frame as she tried her best to get a look at what was happening and who was being attacked.

"Um... That is definitely not Cassius... Ellie get away from the window!" Joel ordered as he grabbed Ellie's shoulders and pulled her away from the window. "Look, we have no idea where she is or if she is in any kind of trouble so..." He paused between sentences and looked Ellie in the eyes. "So I suggest we just wait it out until she comes back, if she isn't back by morning, we'll go looking for her." Ellie instantly opened her mouth to protest but found it was quickly shut by a tap on the bottom of her chin from Joel as he walked away and slumped onto the tattered couch in the main room.

"I agree with him Ellie..." Ava began as she slowly made her way over to the two of them. "As much as you- or we- may worry about Cassius, she can handle herself. And seeing as she is so good at handling herself in situations like this, the best and smartest decision for us is wait..." Ellie sighed. She gave up, neither of these two adults were going to listen to her arguments, and as a result she simply flopped onto a mostly-shredded chair opposite Joel.

* * *

5 hours had passed. Still no sign of Cassius.

Ava could almost sense Ellie growing more and more anxious by the second. With the anticipation of Ellie eventually snapping and running off on her own, Ava jumped to her feet and grabbed everyone's backpacks. She dropped each pack into Joel and Ellie's laps as she hauled her own over her shoulders, wedging two pistols into the waistband of her jeans. "C'mon you two, we're going to find Cassius." Her tone was polite yet demanding, and Ellie and Joel both pulled themselves to their feet and followed her out the door, leaving out a bunch of collected hay for Callus as they left.

"I could just see your mind ticking like a time bomb Ellie, so I just thought we should search a little."

"Th-Thanks Ava. I hope to God she's not in any serious trouble..." Ellie responded as she dropped down off a snowy ledge, feet sliding down the icy hill.

After half an hour that seemed to last more than an hour or two, the three came across a set of buildings, mostly broken down and completely abandoned. Ellie entered first, into a building that seemed to be and old factory, only to stop about three feet in the door and turn back around. Ellie made her way towards another building as she heard muffled shouts and arguing coming from inside. The windows were boarded up and the door was locked, but the three of them could still, somewhat clearly, make out exactly what the people inside were saying.

 _"Look, I need to know exactly who the hell you are if you want me to let you go."_

 _"Tell us first bitch-"_

 _"James, don't. Let us leave little girl, please. We're from a large group and need to find food."_

 _"I don't care! Tell me who you are!"_

 _"My name's David. Please, lower the gun-"_

 _"David? I met some of your buddies outside. Yeah, if I remember correctly one was called Lewis? They got attacked and devoured by infected."_

 _"What? Oh no... The infected, did you take them out?"  
_

 _"Huh? No, of course I didn't. I kept my distance, why?"_

 _"They're gonna come back. I'm sure they've already heard you yelling... If you value your life, let us go and we can fight togeth-"_

 _"Shut it David! Tell me exactly what you're doing here and who your 'larger group' is. Or do you want me to open this door and just let the infected come and eat your tied up bodies?"_

 _"We-"_

The man's explanation was cut short by the screams of infected and clickers sprinting towards the building.

 _"Untie us already!"_

 _"Alright fine! Just shut up already. And if you try anything against me... I'll throw you to the clickers myself. Capeesh?"_

 _"Capeesh..."_

 _"I'm getting outta here and running before they come, if you follow me I'll kill you."_

Ellie immediately stood back from the building's door and walked backwards towards Joel and Ava. The three stood waiting as they heard a large cabinet scraping along the concrete ground as it was moved from in front of the door and a lock being undone.

"Ellie c'mon, we don't know who that could be, let's go before the infected get here." Joel murmured as he placed his hand on Ellie's shoulder to gain her attention. The girl turned around just as the person in the building came sprinting out, leaving the door wide open behind them.

"Cassius!?"

"Ellie!?" The girl whirled round as she was running, skidding to a halt as she dug her hands into the snow. "What the hell? I thought you guys were at the cabin?"

"Yeah, we were until you had vanished for over five hours!" Ellie's frustration was showing as she sprinted to follow Cassius, gesturing for Joel and Ava to follow.

"Alright, well... There's infected everywhere around here so be careful where y'all run." Cassius motioned to their surrounding area as she ran. She quickly turned in to a corner of the factory building Ellie walked to before. As Ellie and the others nearly ran past her, she reached out and pulled Ellie to stand in the corner next to her and gestured to pull in Joel and Ava. "There's about five clickers around that corner there..." She began in a hushed whisper. "We need to be as quiet as possible here." She collapsed into a crouching position as she finally noticed a missing aspect.  
"Wait... Where's my mom?"

* * *

 **GUYS! HEY! I've finally managed to overcome most of the writers block and my prelims are now over - although I still need to sit my art one... Either way, here's a new chapter! I'm trying to incorporate David and the rest of the cannibals/hunters into this story while still keeping it as my own. Yeeeee... So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter - Reviews and criticism is always welcome!  
K byeee  
~Flux-Impulse**


	16. 16-Cannibalistic Undertones 2 of 3

"Wait... Where's my mom?"

* * *

"Help! Cassius, Joel!" The three heard Ava's tortured screams come from the distance, immediately followed by five gunshots. A louder and more pained scream arose from the woman as Cassius sprinted around the maze of corners, rushing to her mother's help. The second she saw the five clickers piling around her mother, she sped up as fast as she could and ripped at their necks. One after the other, the clickers fell to the ground, dead, as Cassius finished off mauling the final infected's neck, crunching it between her jaws and smashing her foot into it's neck to thrust it to the ground.

"Mom! Holy sh*t, are you okay!?" Cassey's short, panicked breath puffed in a pale cloud in front of her as she bent down to see to Ava's wound, she'd been bitten on her upper arm by a clicker.

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay..." Ava's accelerated breathing and hands clutching at her arms betrayed her words as she maintained her eye contact with the others. "We... We're immune right?" She let out a small chuckle as she looked Cassius in the eye once more, a flash of dread and fear scurrying across her face at the sound of the word... _Immune_...

"Right..." Cassius sighed as she pushed herself to her feet again and turned to face Ellie and Joel. "It's winter so the sun'll be setting pretty soon... We have to get back to the cabin as fast as possible and get Ava patched up, before any infected appear... _re_ -appear" Slight tears threatened to tug at the corner of Cassey's eyes as the stressed look on her face dimmed away. One final word fell from her mouth as she tapped Ellie's shoulder and began to backtrack towards the cabin.

"Run."

* * *

Hastily returning the cabin, Cassius rammed herself through the door, in too much of a rush to open it normally. Throwing herself around the rooms, she finally managed to rummage enough and find something to patch up Ava. With the other three rushing in behind her, Cassius whirled around with the bandages in hand and motioned Ava to sit on one of the stools in the kitchen. Speeding herself up every second, Cassey's hands circled Ava's arm as she wound the bandages around. Ava audibly winced as Cassius pulled the bandages to tighten them, finishing up her work.

"Alright..." Cassey sighed as she straightened herself. "That should stop the bleeding. Just... Just tell me if you feel anything, and I mean _anything_ different, about yourself, 'kay?" Cassey's lighthearted tone at the end of her sentence caused Ava's heart to tug, she knew something was wrong, she could feel it running through her blood. The only problem was, she couldn't bring herself to worry Cassius any more than she already was.

"Yeah... Yeah sure, I'll make sure to tell you..." Ava breathed her detached response as she pushed herself off the stool and flopped on the couch in the room across from them. "Just let me rest for a bit..."

Cassius continued to worry no matter what, shooting curious glances towards Ellie every now and then. Once Ellie finally realised that Cassius felt something was wrong, she took a few steps over to accompany Cassey and check.

"I don't know, Ellie..." Cassey sighed before Ellie could open her mouth to speak, "I'm not convinced everything _is_ alright, something seems off about the way she's acting..." Cassius crossed her arms, staring in the direction of her mother.

"Well, it's got to be a bit traumatic, right? I mean, if you hand't come when you had, she could've been ripped apart by them. Realising that can take a toll on people." Ellie offered her opinion in attempt to comfort Cass, but all she got in response was a deep breath of "right..." and a view of Cassey's back as she walked off to her room.

Cassius stopped just before the door to the back rooms and turned her head slightly. "I'm just gonna rest up 'till tomorrow, feel free to have some dinner or whatever..." And with that, she headed off to her room for the night.

* * *

Later that night - roughly 4am, the winter sun was far from rising yet, and only one person lay awake in the cabin.

Ava felt herself cracking.

She felt her mind breaking from reality, anxieties flooded her, a fuse had blown in her sanity and both her mental and physical states were snapping. Skin and figure both felt as if they were stretching and contracting, vision was fluctuating, something began to sprout from the wound in her arm as the bandage fell to her quivering feet. Pinwheels and dancing colours were flashing in and out of her sight and a high-pitched whirring sound started thumping in her ears. Shivering in the corner, she sat with her hands balled in her hair and collapsed, sobbing like a child. Balled fists began ripping out huge wads of hair as she felt her strength increasing. Anger and rage permeated throughout her body as she felt her blood thickening within her veins. She had fully succumbed to the madness that spread over her body, she needed to kill. She was homicidal. Everything breakable in the room was destroyed, smashed and left in a pile of shattered glass and china. Her first thought flickered to her child, her daughter Cassius.

In a rush of pain, her feet scrambled across the broken shards, leaving a large pool of blood behind her and crimson footprints spread over the rooms, she stumbled through the kitchen to main living area. Abruptly awoken from hearing the commotion and screaming arising from the kitchen, Cassius, Ellie and Joel cautiously made their way to the main room. Feeling her heart beating faster and hearing Ellie's speed to an almost uncontrollable pace, Cassius reached her hand behind her and connected with Ellie's as the shorter girl secured and tightened a grip on her hand. Cassius peered through the doorway as she inched forwards into the living room. A deep, strangled huffing came from in front of the couch as she leaned through to see her mother hunched over, shivering and grunting with a growing pool of blood by her feet. A floorboard creaked beneath Ellie's foot as she took a step closer and placed her hand flush against Cassey's back. Ava's ears twitched as she heard the creaking and her head whipped around to look at them. Cassius was taken aback by the hunger and madness that she saw in her mother's bulging eyes. The crazed thirst in her eyes increased as she sprinted forward and forced herself upon Cassius, sending them tumbling and pinning her daughter to the ground. Hands grabbed at throats, teeth snapped at any bare flesh they could reach.

"Mom! What's happening!?" Cassey's panicked voice panted as she forced her hands forward in an attempt to block her mother's clawing and snapping, struggling to breathe air into her lungs. Strangled wailing arose from Ava as her deathly cold hands wrapped themselves around Cassey's neck and jaw. Cassius grabbed her gun with the one hand that wasn't shielding herself while being crunched into by her mother's incredibly sharp teeth, her fingers wrapped around the pistol's grip and hooked over the trigger.  
Suddenly, Ava seemed to gain one final grasp of sanity and a sense of recognition flashed over her eyes. She ripped her hands from Cassey's throat as she reached up and snatched the hand that held the pistol. She pulled the hand with the gun up until it was as far up as she needed, and placed the barrel directly on her chin. Although maniacal, Ava's eyes showed a sadness that shook Cassius to the core. "MOM!" Cassius finally managed to force the word from her throat as she struggled, attempting to pull her hand away but her mother's enhanced strength was too much. Ava's free hand reached up and forcefully pulled the shoulder of her shirt's sleeve up, revealing a huge, throbbing patch of dark crimson flesh, torn apart in the shape of a bite, the blood still flowing from it and the radius of rash growing at an increasing rate.

"You see this Cass!?" Ava's words became slurred and blood-curdling as she spat them at Cassius. "This is a bite. From a clicker! I was immune!" She screamed her words out with growing intensity as she forced the mouth of the gun harder onto her chin.

"Mom! I… I don't understand!" Cassius yelled before being cut off by Ava yelling again.

"I'm infected! I'm infected!" She kept repeating the same two words over and over. "I'm infected! I don't wanna turn Cassey! Kill me before I become one of _them_ , one of those demons! Please, kill me!" She pleaded. As her tortured shouts rose, Ellie and Joel stood looking on helplessly, not understanding or knowing exactly what they should do.

"Just kill me you coward! You always make yourself out to be so brave, just kill me!"

"I can't! How can you expect-"

"Just shut up already! Just shut up! Kill me or I'll kill you and become one of those cannibalistic monsters!"

"Mom! I can't! Please-"

"Kill me!" Ava's pleading halted only for a second as another flash of sanity reached it's way over her face and her voice suddenly softened to a harsh, sobbing whisper. "Please, Cassey, please. Just end it… Please…"

As her mind fell into the dark sadness of realisation, the abyss encircled her and she did it. She pulled the trigger.

* * *

 **Oh shoot boi, cliffhanger!? The next chapter is already in the works, I am currently on exam leave thought, so please don't get any hopes up! I'm moving into S5 in about 3 weeks so that should be fun ;D**

 **Alright, before I go though can we just discuss these _super cool amazingly well done_ descriptions of the turning? I. Am. Proud. Okay?**

 **Okay, now Imma go finish up the next chapter, it's getting exciting, even for me! XD**


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